Five Animals Play
by Jonohex
Summary: *UPDATED 12/30/11* Naruto's missing and Tomoki, a new genin, has been sent to find him. His search leads to a city living in fear and a strange monastery where all is not what it seems. *Takes place after Wave Country and before the Chunin Exams*.
1. Strange Wisdom

**Five Animals Play**

By Jonohex

Naruto's missing and Tomoki, a new genin, has been sent to find him. His search leads to a city living in fear and a strange monastery where all is not what it seems. This story takes place very early in the series - after the Wave Country arc and before the chunin exams, and is a follow-up to my first story River of Red.

* * *

…_How will you know the difficulties of being human,_

_if you are always flying off to blue perfection?_

-Jelaluddin Rumi

**Part 1: Strange Wisdom**

Tomoki stood ready with knees slightly bent and fists raised level with his chin. Beads of sweat flowed around his brow and his chest heaved with breath. The young ninja allowed himself a quick swallow to ease his dry throat as he tried to formulate some kind of strategy that might bring this contest to an end…though at this point such a thing seemed impossible. The boy's vision swam for a moment then focused on the determined expression on the flushed face of his shorter opponent, Naruto Uzumaki, who waited confidently just a few paces away.

"Give up yet?" piped Naruto in his high, gravelly voice. His sapphire eyes burned and a smile crept over his face which raised the strange, whisker-like markings on his cheeks that had been there before the fight along with the various scratches and swellings that had not. The genin's vivid orange and blue clothing was smudged with dirt and torn slightly at the knee and along the high, white collar while strands of grass clung to his blue headband and stuck in his shock of yellow hair.

_Alright, alright, I give…enough already!_ Tomoki's fatigued body begged him to answer but the idea was dismissed outright by the few remaining citadels in his brain where pride still held sway.

The boy took a deep, calming breath of the summer air and wiped a sleeve over his closely-cropped, brown-haired head and ruddy face as the two circled each other warily on the grassy hillside.

Despite his inventory of aches and pains, Tomoki couldn't help but smile too. When his new friend had asked him along to practice tai-jutsu, he'd no idea what he was getting into. For the first few minutes Tomoki had been relaxed, spontaneous, and had countered Naruto's fearless, explosive and usually excessive attacks easily using the principles of ai he'd cultivated through fencing.

But a long time had passed since then and Tomoki now found himself tiring and getting sloppy. His timing had slipped, he'd already used his most reliable combinations and his clever feints were no longer very convincing.

What added to his woes was that his friend possessed a tireless, implacable spirit, and had vast reserves of internal energy – chakra, while his own endurance waned. Tomoki bit at his lip as he considered for a moment and remembered, with some apprehension, the sinister and preternatural source of that energy.

Tomoki put aside the memory for now of the monster sealed up inside his strange classmate. This was not the time to dwell on it. Besides, beyond bruises and a collection of other superficial injuries, neither one of them was really hurt. Both he and Naruto were ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and had enough control over their arsenals of strikes, joint locks, throws and other techniques that they could rein back their destructive powers.

Even so, it was all Tomoki could do to stop his hands from dropping away and his legs from buckling out from under him. He was exhausted! But knowing that even one weary look from him would fire Naruto's resolve to a white heat, his expression betrayed nothing.

The genin couldn't help but observe that, for someone who was not at all considered smart, he always learned something from his blond classmate. _Such as, _he thought, _fights aren't always as easy to get out of as they are to get into!_

"Well?" demanded Naruto. "Are we going to fight or just stand around?"

Tomoki detected a trace of frustration in his classmate's voice, and his thoughts flickered with hope. "We'll fight," the taller ninja replied with forced vigor, "since you've got your heart set on it."

Naruto grinned fiercely and charged.

_Relax! Relax! Relax!_ Tomoki urged himself as he waited.

Naruto spun, leaped in the air, and sent the edge of his foot rocketing around toward Tomoki's head. Acting on instinct alone, Tomoki dropped and whipped his back leg low with what he suspected were the last reserves of his strength; its arc brushing a trail through the grass.

Just at that moment, a blue and gray blur appeared between them and a familiar, insistent voice cried: "Stop!"

Both ninja felt a rush of alarm but it was too late. Naruto's kick crashed into the unlucky newcomer's chest while Tomoki's sweep thundered through the backs of his ankles. The figure twisted from the double-impacts and spun heels-over-head to the ground where he landed with a dull thud.

The two genin rose and their faces froze with shock as they looked down at their academy instructor, Iruka-sensei's motionless form.

Birds called.

Insects keened.

Neither boy could speak as a breeze rose and stirred through their fallen former teacher's brown, pony-tailed hair.

"Uh-oh," mumbled the startled Tomoki awkwardly between ragged breaths.

Naruto's blue eyes widened with alarm as he gasped and paled. "Oh, NO!" he cried, doubling over. "We just k…k…KILLED Iruka-sensei!"

Tomoki loped off to retrieve his canteen from where it rested at the base of a nearby maple, next to his swords, while Naruto knelt beside the motionless figure and cradled his teacher's head tenderly in his arms.

"Sensei?" he pleaded with a rising tone of desperation in his voice. "Sensei!"

"Come on, Naruto," Tomoki called back raggedly, "we couldn't have _killed_ him!" The ninja hurried back to Iruka's side and poured a little water into the man's rugged-featured face. "See that, he's still breathing!" he offered hopefully but the blond remained inconsolable. "Come on, Naruto," Tomoki tried again, "he's a _chunin_, so you know he's taken way harder hits than that." As if in response, Iruka stirred slightly. "There…you see?"

The man's eyelids fluttered opened. His pupils shrank, his eyes rolled for a moment then wandered between the two contrite genin who smiled back at him guiltily.

"Iruka-sensei!" gushed Naruto with sincere relief. "Are you ok?"

The man coughed and rubbed his chest as he sat up then the two students helped him to his feet. "Uh, sure…Naruto, I'm fine," replied the older ninja who frowned, brushed himself off and drew up to his full height – a head and more taller than Tomoki. His dark eyes, underlined by a long scar, narrowed. "Just what are you two fighting about anyway?" asked Iruka crossly.

Tomoki and Naruto exchanged puzzled glances then looked back at him blankly.

"Oh, we weren't really fighting," explained Naruto who laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. His face flowered into a toothy, Cheshire-cat smile. "Is that what you thought?"

Iruka raised an eyebrow then turned his full-bore skepticism on Tomoki, who raised his palms and confirmed hurriedly: "No, really, Sensei, it was only practice."

"Oh…," the chunin replied, apparently satisfied, then let out a breath. "Hmm, I kind of wish I'd known that."

"Hee-hee, sorry about that, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto offered, barely containing his laughter.

"Me too, Sensei," added Tomoki gravely with a deep bow

The instructor's frown melted away. "No, it was my mistake," he admitted then said with a chuckle: "I suppose I should have known better." The leaf-ninja shrugged away the last effects of the blows he'd taken and looked at the pair. "Well, you two better not wear yourselves out. You both have joint-training exercises tomorrow. Neither of your new instructors will be very happy if you show up tired."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about that, Iruka-sensei, believe it!" Naruto reassured eagerly. "I'll get to impress two ninja teams with my skills instead of just one like usual!"

Both Tomoki and Iruka looked at him and let the remark pass.

"Um, yeah…but you're right, sensei," said Tomoki. "We'll need to be well rested."

* * *

The three sat for awhile beneath the maple which shaded them from the late afternoon sun, and talked while they rested. Tomoki took a deep drink of water from his canteen then poured some over his head, savoring the coolness. Hard experience had taught him that a little food and water can go a long way in desperate circumstances and he'd never regretted his habit of always bringing some along. And right now he was desperately thirsty!

The genin was about to finish off the remainder when he saw Naruto's eyes widen slightly then return to their baseline squint. Tomoki grinned, capped the top and tossed it to the yellow-haired ninja who pretended indifference as he took a drink, then gave the last of it to Iruka.

After they'd all recovered a bit and the two genin had collected their gear and weapons, they all walked down the hill headed back toward the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Hee-hee, that was fun!" Naruto asserted loudly as he jumped up into the air and pumped his fist. "Except for that LAST part, huh, Sensei?"

Iruka glanced at him askance. "Well, it's good that you practice hard," the older ninja replied agreeably. "It's the only way to improve, and I can tell you've improved a lot."

Naruto snickered. "It was more for Tomoki…he needs it WAY more than I do."

"Hey!" cried the taller boy who elbowed Naruto's shoulder but then confessed: "I guess you're right. My tai-jutsu should be a lot better than it is."

"Yeah, you can't always count on having those fancy swords around!"

Iruka looked at Tomoki and gestured to the pair of short swords he wore at his waist. "I meant to ask if you knew how to use those. Two swords are difficult to master."

Naruto answered for him, blurting: "Oh yeah, Sensei, he's great!"

Tomoki's alarmed eyes flickered towards his classmate, then he smiled sheepishly. "I…I'm still just learning."

"A wise man never stops learning," advised Iruka, patting Tomoki's shoulder reassuringly. "Come on, let's see what you got."

The boy grimaced slightly but gave in and took a couple of steps back. His blades hissed as he drew them smoothly from their scabbards, practiced a few parries and thrusts, whirled them around in a series of lethal-looking figure-eights then froze in a deep stance with imaginary opponents on either side of him impaled.

Iruka nodded with appreciation. "Looks pretty good to me," he attested then canted his head sharply. "Let me see."

Tomoki offered him one of his blades, hilt first.

"Hmm," the chunin grunted then raised his eyebrows as he inspected it, judging its weight and balance. "I've never seen a sword pitted as bad as this," he observed critically. "It's worse than a lawnmower blade. You must really be practicing a lot."

"Oh, well…" The genin looked away awkwardly, grinned and nodded. "I try to, Sensei."

"What's the matter, Tomoki," said Iruka as he handed him back his weapon and leveled an eye at him, "standard-issue kunai knives not good enough for you?"

"Oh, no, Sensei," the genin explained in a wavering voice, "it's not that! I-."

"Come on, Tomoki," interrupted Naruto who pushed his way between them. "Can't you see he's joking?"

Tomoki looked at him then at Iruka who grinned and burst out laughing.

The three leaf-ninjas made their way through the streets of Konoha – the Village Hidden in the Leaves. In all reality it was a city more than a village, crouched amidst forests and rocky promontories. Parks and plazas spaced themselves between grey, concrete buildings which sprouted balconies and overhangs of wood and painted metal, runs of electrical conduit, serpentine gutters and downspouts.

They passed along plank fences festooned with posters and advertisements, where power lines and banners criss-crossed overhead and birds perched on laundry lines. Beyond the strange-shaped towers and gabled roofs of metal and tile loomed the reassuring visages of the four Hokages – great ninja lords of the past and present who looked down from the rocky face into which they'd been carved.

Naruto and Iruka, being well-acquainted, did all the talking as they walked until they came close to Naruto's apartment.

"I'm going to have a big dinner then go right to bed," the blond ninja announced eagerly, "so I'll be all fresh tomorrow morning. That Sasuke won't know what hit him!" He balled his fists and rushed up before Tomoki with the exultant, nearly-maniacal gleam in his eyes that the taller genin still hadn't quite gotten used to. "You'd better be at your best too, Tomoki! See you there!"

"Can't wait…," answered Tomoki with forced enthusiasm as Naruto waved goodbye and ran off; he was already starting to feel sore.

Left alone with his former instructor from the academy, Tomoki turned back and smiled blandly at Iruka then took at step in the direction of his own dwelling. The boy did his best to hide his discomfiture when it became clear to him that the man was headed the same way.

Iruka walked next to him in companionable silence for a time before giving the graduate a sidelong glance. "So…," he ventured, "you and Naruto are friends now, is that right?"

"Mmm-hmm," affirmed Tomoki, lost in thought, then quickly corrected himself: "I mean, uh, yes, Sensei."

"That's good," the elder ninja opined casually, obviously having expected more. "How did that happen?"

Tomoki's expression flickered. "Oh, uh, well…there's nothing much to it, really."

Iruka gave a thoughtful hum. "I don't think he's ever had a friend," said the teacher in passing, yet his concern and affection for the wild, blond-haired boy who'd pushed his patience to the edge and often FAR beyond it for years was clear in his tone. "For that matter, there aren't many people who don't get on _his_ nerves either. You must have made quite an impression."

Tomoki nodded mechanically at the observation and thought to say something but nothing came to mind.

The chunin looked away and took a breath. "You know, Tomoki, you've always been the quietest one of the bunch…very polite, very self-controlled or so it seemed. I suppose, with all the trouble I had with Naruto and some of the others, well…mostly Naruto, that I should be grateful."

Tomoki's expression wavered uncertainly as he started to wonder what his former teacher was getting at. "You have nothing to be grateful to me for, Sensei."

Iruka amended abruptly, "Maybe 'appreciative' would be a better way to put it." The genin's eyes flickered for a moment, now mystified and a little discomfited by his former instructor's sudden interest and mounting frustration.

"It's like they say," the man added with atypical inscrutability, "that you can't always hear the lute when the kettle drums play."

The corner of the boy's mouth twitched at the odd analogy. "I…I have no complaints, Iruka-sensei," he ventured curtly, a bit insulted at the insinuation.

"I'm glad for that, Tomoki, but _still_…," now the ninja's voice hovered direly between an invasive question and an outright accusation.

Tomoki stopped short and asked in a tone sharper than he'd intended, "'But still'…_what?"_

Iruka paused and the two stared hard at each other. After years at the academy this was the first confrontation they'd ever had.

"It bothers me," the chunin announced, this time plainly, "that I know nothing more about you today than the day you walked into my classroom all those years ago."

The genin's lusterless, brown eyes widened, then he pursed his lips to enforce his silence while Iruka waited. At last, the boy replied, "And you're telling me this NOW…after I've already graduated?" Tomoki rubbed his hand down his face then studied his former teacher's stern expression as tense silence unfolded.

"It's not your fault; it's mine," Iruka allowed though begrudgingly. "And I know it's too late. I should have paid closer attention to you. I don't know why I didn't. I guess…I guess it was just that you never seemed to need it. I-I don't even know why it's so important to me all of a sudden. Maybe it was seeing you and Naruto fighting – a student I know a lot about and one I know little."

"So what do you want _me_ to do?" replied Tomoki. This time he didn't bother to hide his resentment.

Iruka frowned and started to pace then spun suddenly toward his former student. "Just say something! Tell me anything so that I'll know something more about you other than just your name!"

The genin stood, teeth clenched, and shut his eyes as he struggled with his temper. "I see," he said tensely, feeling genuine anger rise. "It's suddenly dawned on you all the things you've taught me over the years. Do you think I'm a traitor then, a spy like Mizuki was! Is THAT it?"

Tomoki breathed hard and knew he should say nothing more but the flood gates had opened and it was no longer in his power to close them. "I'm sure everyone you teach gets this kind of examination, _right?"_ he rasped with exasperation. "Kiba, Ino, Sakura, Shino, Sasuke?"

Passers-by on the street cast curious looks at the pair and bowed their paths to veer around them as Tomoki continued loudly: "But they didn't, did they? Some get the benefit of your doubt and some don't! _Obviously,_ I don't…but even then I was so _unworthy of your notice_ that you waited until now, after I've passed all your tests and graduated, after you looked at my swords and _knew_ that I'd done a lot more than just practice with them!

"You taught us what we needed to know to defend our country, the Land of Fire, but that was _never_ the reason I wanted to be a ninja. You want to know the real reason? You want to know why I ran away that time? You want the TRUTH? Well -," the boy stumbled and fought for the words but then straightened defiantly and barked: "I JUST FLAT OUT DON'T FEEL LIKE TELLING YOU!"

Iruka, who'd listened carefully the entire time, drew a slow breath. "Fair enough; you don't have to. Maybe at this point I shouldn't expect you to," he replied then looked at his former student with a surprisingly charitable expression and added, "So what now?"

Tomoki shrugged and turned aside. He was all warmed up for a fight but now Iruka had just left him standing there with nothing to argue about. "I don't know," the young ninja confessed then turned to meet the chunin's thoughtful frown. "That's no answer but it's all I have. The path I followed before ended," his expression screwed, "kind of unexpectedly. Now I got no idea what to do."

Iruka nodded. "Any guesses?"

"Like I said, I don't know," answered Tomoki with a shrug. "But I think Naruto might."

"What?" Iruka coughed.

"I know it sounds weird," the boy admitted quietly.

The older ninja shook his head and put his hands on his hips. "I like Naruto a lot, but I have a little trouble seeing him as any sort of guide." He chuckled at the idea.

"It's kind of hard to explain but I saw something in him." In a blur of motion, Tomoki drew one of his swords and sliced the air. Iruka, startled slightly, was utterly quiet when the boy looked up and said: "Just like that, someone's dead. It's just that easy. It doesn't take much strength either because the power comes from the kinesthetic connectivity generated through the entire body and the extension of the chakra through the blade."

Tomoki looked up cleverly and quipped: "See? Even though I never said much, I _did_ pay attention in class."

"I never doubted it," said Iruka who mugged a look.

The former student returned his weapon expertly to its sheath. "Helping somebody…that takes _real _strength, Iruka-sensei," the genin muttered. "I know that's gotta sound pretty hopelessly stupid, and I wouldn't have believed it either.

"Naruto…helped me. He was willing to risk his life for me even though he didn't even know me. There was no…reward, no one around to impress, nothing to gain at all and still he was willing to risk everything. I-."

Tomoki shook himself free of his thoughts then looked at Iruka. "Sorry, Sensei," he said, embarrassed but resolute. "You wanted answers and all I've got is this…stuff."

Iruka stared at him speechlessly then managed: "That's fine, Tomoki. It'll do for now." He looked down at his former student and buoyed him with a grin. "After all, that's the most you've said to me in five years."

"I know," Tomoki said and glanced away. "I didn't mean anything by it. I just had…other things on my mind."

"It's ok," said the teacher who nodded sagely in apparent satisfaction. "But you shouldn't ever let yourself get so caught up by any one thing. The world's a big place and there's lots of other stuff you might miss."

The genin nodded. "I know that now."

"Well, I need to be going, and you need to get some rest!" the chunin said as he ran a hand over the boy's brushy head then stepped back and bowed.

Tomoki happily returned the gesture and stood there frozen as his sensei walked away. "Sensei," he announced suddenly after a moment's thought, "You should know: those walls you made me build after I ran off – I had help. I cheated."

The former student wasn't sure what he'd expected from this confession but he definitely expected _something_ and could only stare curiously when the man kept walking.

"Do you feel better now that you told me?" Iruka's good-natured laughter rang back at last. "You must've thought I didn't know."

The genin, having dreaded wrath or disappointment, looked at him nonplussed. "But…but you never said anything," Tomoki said with a confused shrug and took a couple of steps after him.

"I _am_ an academy instructor, you know," answered Iruka, who kept walking, "so it did occur to me that you had help…either that or that you'd mastered some incredible wall-building jutsu no one's ever heard about before!"

The boy rolled his tongue around the inside of his cheek. This was a tough idea to grasp. "You're not mad?"

Iruka cocked his head and slowed his stride as he approached a corner. "It was never a punishment. I even told you that it was a test, remember?" he called loudly. "I just never said what for. Did you ever think I was testing you on something _other_ than your tolerance for manual labor?"

Tomoki grimaced at Iruka's unexpected explanation but then figured it was better all the way around if he just accepted it. The boy shouted as the retreating figure disappeared from view: "Thanks, Sensei!"

* * *

Tomoki waited with the rest, gathered around the pylon-monument to those ninjas who'd been killed in action. Sasuke Uchiha sat on the edge of its stone plinth and stared, raven-like toward the horizon in contemplation of whoever or whatever someone with his clan's storied past would contemplate while his pretty, pink-haired teammate, Sakura Haruno, paced with increasingly petulant impatience. Their leader, Kakashi-sensei, stood by calmly with his arms folded.

_Come ON, Naruto_, thought Tomoki intensely and chewed his lip. _Where ARE you?_

The genin again looked around, hoping to catch sight of him. He would almost find Naruto's absence amusing being that their summons was for dawn yet Kakashi-sensei hadn't arrived until well into mid-morning.

Tomoki's teammates: Kenshiro, broad, dark-skinned, muscular and covered with sigils from head to toe; and Chiaki, petite and pale, made no secret about their boredom and broke out a deck of cards. Tomoki thought that he'd play too if he wasn't so distracted. Chiaki looked at him curiously and spared him a smirk while Kenshiro, who didn't care either way, dealt.

Their team's sensei waited with perfect unconcern. Tomoki glanced at her furtively to gauge her mood. She was easily the most masculine and _second_-most fearsome woman he'd ever met. Wild hair crowned a scarred face that would have been right at home in a barroom brawl or descending upon a hapless frigate upon the high seas. Her limbs and waist were thick; her head was at all times canted at an oblique angle and, though she deferred to Kakashi Hatake on most things, all feared her great strength which could snap necks and backs like soda-crackers.

For all of that it puzzled Tomoki to no small extent that her parents had given her the lyrical and evocatively romantic name of Esmeralda.

"Kakashi," she ventured with a surprisingly tactful tone. "Need I state the obvious?"

The tall, silver-haired jonin blew out a breath through the cloth mask which concealed almost all of his face. "We're one short," he observed while Esmeralda flexed her bowling-ball shoulders. "Ok, teams!" Kakashi announced at last with his usual sanguinity at which the five genin present stopped what they were doing and gathered around.

Tomoki took one last long look toward the village then joined them.

"As with any mission," Kakashi continued smoothly, "you must learn to deal with the unexpected. Sometimes things don't go your way and you must be flexible and inventive enough to proceed in spite of setbacks," he lectured then turned toward his colleague, "If that is acceptable to you, of course, Esmeralda?"

The kunoichi frowned, inspected her short, ragged-edged nails and offered in her harsh voice: "It seems a shame, that's all."

Kakashi regarded her with the one eye he let show; the other being concealed by his canted hitai-ate. "How so?" he inquired.

"This exercise is set up to be _especially_ grueling. I see no reason why your sleepy-head should be spared."

The jonin set his hands on his hips and looked upward abstractly. "I hadn't thought about it that way."

"We're already running late; a little more won't hurt," Esmeralda advised. "Let's send someone to fetch him."

Kakashi turned to the group and proposed: "any volunteers?"

Tomoki knew where this was headed as soon as the question was asked. Sasuke turned his brooding stare back toward the far horizon while Sakura rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Kenshiro and Chiaki exchanged glances which met then swiveled slowly and purposefully towards their teammate.

"I'll go," offered Tomoki preemptively.

"Thank you, Tomoki," said Esmeralda with a polite smile. "Don't waste a moment! Bring that Naruto right to this spot even if he's in bunny-rabbit pajamas!"

His teammates both broke out in laughter while Tomoki bowed to his sensei then raced off.

* * *

Tomoki's thoughts fumed as he leaped from treetop to treetop then raced through the village streets toward Naruto's aerie apartment.

_Have you lost your mind, Naruto!_ he wondered with a scowl on his face. _You knew when our training exercises were going to start; you were looking forward to it!_

Buildings and pedestrians flew past the young ninja in his haste. The genin cut through alleys and sprang from balconies to parapets and sped across rooftops.

_You couldn't have overslept! There's no way!_ Tomoki thought and suddenly felt guilty. Though he hadn't known Naruto very long, he'd learned that many of the boy's seeming flaws could be understood as virtues from a different perspective. And, after all that Naruto had done for him, the least he deserved was the benefit of a doubt.

By the time Tomoki stood outside Naruto's door, he was almost sick with concern.

_Naruto would never miss a chance to train and maybe show everyone up,_ the boy considered and of this he was certain. The genin licked his dry lips and knocked.

"Naruto?" he called out and listened for an answer, "I'm really going to be disappointed if you just overslept!" Tomoki knocked again more insistently then pressed his ear to the door but heard nothing. "What? Did you eat some bad ramen?" the boy shouted, paced for a second then tried the knob which, to his surprise, offered no resistance.

Naruto's room was as he remembered it – neater than anyone might expect, with everything in order and some healthy-looking plants spaced evenly on their shelves. The bed was unmade and dishes lay on the counter but all of that seemed normal.

The boy took a step inside then stopped suddenly at the strange scents that lingered in the air, a putrid, animal stench. A thousand jokes and crude comments came to mind but Tomoki shoved them aside.

Suddenly, instinctively wary, his hand fell to the handle of one of his swords while his eyes searched the room for any outward sign of anything amiss. They settled quickly on the floor and the headband that rested there. Tomoki crouched and picked it up – a blue hitai-ate with a thin metal plate affixed to it, embossed with the crest of the Hidden Leaf Village. If he hadn't been sure before he knew now that something was very, very wrong.

Tomoki brooded as he walked down the street, passing along shops and apartments with Naruto's headband clutched in his hand. It occurred to him that there could be hundreds of conventional explanations for his friend's disappearance but one after the other, he dismissed them. As idiosyncratic as Naruto was, there was no way he would just _leave_, especially without his hitai-ate which announced to the world the accomplishment he'd worked so hard to attain.

The boy rounded a corner and made his way past rows of vendors' stalls and carts that displayed flowers, produce and hot lunches. Just for the sake of being thorough, Tomoki cast a long look toward the ramen carts and stopped in at Ichiraku's but was disappointed for his efforts. Finally, deciding to seek council, he turned down an alley then marched up a flight of uncertain wooden stairs to a small upper floor shop that had no sign but only a painted chart of the human body that had each organ charted by its characteristics and association with the five elements.

The boy knocked then went in without waiting to be received, ducking his head under a blue drapery that was ornamented with mythical creatures, dragons and phoenixes. The shop had a small table and three sturdy, unvarnished wood chairs. Shelves lined two of the walls and were packed solid with small boxes, pouches and glass jars filled with powders, twigs, leaves, insects, dried organs and other substances that Tomoki never could identify.

"Ichi-san?" the boy called but received no answer. He heard noises and voices from the treatment room which was separated by a curtain of beads, and went toward it.

As his hand opened the way he saw Ichi's bent shape huddled over the body of a nude, old woman who lay prostrate on his massage table. Rows of clear, glass jars covered the figure's broad, bare back, and her skin welled up red and swollen into each one. Ichi shot him a devastating glare, under which Tomoki retreated aghast and embarrassed. "Excuse me, Madam Wu!" he cried in a full cringing-dog retreat back through the beads. "I'm very sorry!"

"Not at all, Tom-tom!" the woman answered without moving. "Don't worry about it."

The ninja winced slightly. "Ichi-san, please, I need to talk to you. I'm afraid it can't wait."

"One moment," the man grumbled then added pointedly, "I'm in the middle of something…as you can well see."

The planked floor creaked under Tomoki's impatient footfalls as he paced and fretted, until Ichi emerged at last through the beads and gave him a sour look.

Ichi Watanabe had many talents ranging through herbal medicine and acupuncture to fortune-telling and calligraphy. As anyone might expect from a man with such diverse talents, Tomoki had found his mind full of obscure wisdom that was often extremely useful. None of this, however, was apparent from a casual glance. The man's face was flat with a low forehead and sunken cheeks. His hair was dull black, speckled with grey as were his slightly overgrown eyebrows and struggling mustache. And those rheumy, slate-blue eyes gave no clue whatsoever of the expansive libraries stored behind them.

Tomoki's eyes flickered between him and the other room. "What are you _doing_ to her?" he inquired quietly with subdued alarm.

Ichi frowned. "It's a treatment that's good for the chakra," replied the old man defensively, making quite clear his annoyance at the genin's ignorance. "It brings the stale energy to the surface and refreshes and strengthens its flow."

Tomoki shook his head in disbelief but smiled weakly.

"So," said Ichi with a stern note, "what's so important that you would burst in on a middle-aged woman undergoing a medical procedure, hmm?"

A voice erupted from the other room: _"Who are you calling middle-aged, you old goat!"_

Ichi's eyes widened. "A very well-kept and deceptively youthful, _early_ middle-age, I should have said!" he amended hastily, grabbed and drew his visitor to the further corner of his shop then sat in one of the chairs.

"It's Naruto," the genin began tentatively as he took a seat. "He's missing, and I think something's happened to him."

Ichi winced at the mention of the yellow-haired ninja's name and set both hands on the table. "I don't like this…association you've developed with that boy."

"I know," replied Tomoki quietly. "You said so before."

The old man shrugged and looked away. "But you didn't take my advice."

"Please, Ichi-san…"

The soothsayer shook his head. "Tomoki, you're not my son. Really, you're only my customer but sometimes I think of you as if you were my son. I want you to know that I wouldn't warn you away from Naruto unless I had good reason too."

Tomoki bit at his lip and nodded. "I know, Ichi-san," he repeated.

"No, you don't know!" his advisor scolded suddenly. "You have no idea -," Ichi broke off and Tomoki knew why, though he wasn't supposed to: the Hokage's prohibition about ever speaking of the nine-tailed fox demon whose spirit had been interred within Naruto from birth and sealed with a powerful ninja spell.

"Ichi-san," the boy said firmly as he met his gaze. "I _do_ know. I know all about it."

"The whole story?" replied Ichi sharply.

Tomoki's gaze wavered. "I know enough."

"Fine, ignore me then," Ichi hissed and waved his hand. "But know this: the squirrel cannot run long with the f-."

"Don't say it!" barked Tomoki who then managed in a more moderate tone, "He's my _friend_, Ichi-san; I have to find him. When I fought Xiaomei, he saved my life. Even if it ends up that he kills me, I'd still owe him for all the days in between." The young ninja's brow narrowed and his fingers tapped tensely against the tabletop. "One more thing, Ichi," he added, a little insulted, "I'm no squirrel, so don't take me for one."

The sage rose from table angrily and started away but Tomoki seized his wrist and their eyes locked. Ichi was the elder - an old, learned man who deserved respect but he'd never played that card with Tomoki.

Tomoki was a ninja - a warrior, expert in martial arts and mysterious jutsu techniques who could be called upon at any time by the Hokage to face death but he'd never played that card either…until now.

The old man relented and sat back down. "What do you wish of me?"

"Help me find him!" Tomoki begged, his boy's voice cracking with desperation. "He saved my life, Ichi-san, and I can't…I won't just abandon him."

The soothsayer sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You don't think he just…," he paused to illustrate with a wave of his hand, "wandered off? That boy is kind of strange, you know."

Tomoki shook his head.

"Do you know anyone who'd want to harm him?"

Tomoki gave him an incredulous look.

"Oh, right, forget I asked." Ichi leaned back and pinched his pale, thinly-whiskered chin in thought. "At your academy, did you ever practice the far-sight?"

Tomoki shook his head.

"Well, there is a theory that everyone already knows all there is to know, but it's blocked out by the five physical senses, the distractions of the body and of the conscious mind. You might give it a try. I have a feeling you're predisposed to it," Ichi said, departed, then returned with an inkwell, brush and roll of paper.

"How does it work?" asked Tomoki curiously as his advisor folded then tore off a length of the paper. "What hand seals should I make?"

"It's not like that," Ichi explained with a shake of his head then dipped the brush into the black ink and put in it Tomoki's hand. "Just close your eyes, clear your mind and think of your friend."

The boy looked at him uncertainly but did what he asked. "I don't see anything."

"Relax!" the man chided. "Concentrate, you have to give it some time and you have to trust yourself. Don't think too much…better still, don't think at all! Just draw what you _feel."_ He leaned close and turned his ear toward Tomoki's still face as if listening for his thoughts then said: "That's better. Keep at it. In the meantime I have to finish up with Madam Wu's treatment."

Tomoki heard the man rise and hasten into the other room with a rattling of beads. He relaxed and looked deep into the darkness. Awhile passed then slowly his hand began to move. The brush crept across the paper, curving upward to a point, then down, up…and down. After a few moments he opened his eyes. Upon the paper appeared a series of rolling crests around a large, rounded mass.

The puzzled leaf-genin was still staring at it when his mentor returned, bringing with him two china cups and a steaming teapot.

"So…what do you think?" Ichi asked casually.

"Waves," Tomoki answered, "and an island." He looked up sharply. "The Land of Waves!" he blurted then turned thoughtful. "Naruto went on a mission there with his sensei, Kakashi, and his team not too long ago. He told me they were in a messy fight with a rogue ninja named Zabuza and his follower Haku."

Tomoki's features pinched with thought and he waved his hand at the drawing. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would he go back…or why would anyone want to take him there?"

Ichi shrugged and joined his young, frustrated guest at the table. "I'm sure I don't know. But it's not wise to jump to conclusions like that – it's your conscious mind again."

Tomoki stared at his rendering one more time as if it had suddenly materialized there. He surrendered to a mirthless chuckle. "I really don't know anything," the ninja observed bleakly then let his face drop into his hands. "What should I do - go look for him in Wave Country?"

Ichi smiled politely and poured the two cups full. "Tomoki, for most people, what you can do right now is nothing less than magic – the way you fight and move, your Iron Vest, Fire Spirit and Shadow Gate jutsus. Many would like to learn such things but they won't. They won't sacrifice the time and they won't risk the failure."

Tomoki lifted his head, slowly took up the small cup of steaming tea, blew to temper it then took a tentative sip.

"My boy, you've learned so much already and know even more than you might realize." Tomoki looked at him, hanging on his every word. "If I was to search for Naruto, there are a few things I would try but they would all be uncertain. But, I think if you follow your heart, it will lead you to your friend."

The young ninja nodded solemnly then folded up the drawing and put it in his vest.

"Thanks," Tomoki offered simply but sincerely, bowed to his advisor then went.

* * *

It was early afternoon by the time Tomoki stood at the mouth of the alley with all his traveling gear assembled and ready to go. The sun was high and bright in the sky. The angle and high walls of the surrounding buildings insured that the alley was cloaked in deepest shadow. The young ninja blew out a breath and cracked his neck knowing he was about to push himself to the limit.

"Here we go," he muttered to himself and then: "ninja art – Shadow Gate Jutsu!"

The boy's hands and fingers flew as they pieced together the complex sequence of seals needed to get his inner-energy, his chakra, to flow correctly and make the technique work. The shadow responded to his urging and rippled; its depth deepened from a diaphanous shade to an impenetrable, inky black.

Tomoki nodded with satisfaction then froze dismayed as he felt a presence rise up unexpectedly from behind him, approaching like a great, unseen wave. He pressed his eyes shut and grimaced.

"You know, Tomoki," issued the smooth voice of Kakashi-sensei," I couldn't help but notice when you didn't come back. Of course, you've done that before, so maybe it's my fault for letting you go in the first place."

It was hard to tell what the jonin's mood was from just the tone of his voice but it seemed sincere when he commented: "That's an interesting jutsu, by the way."

"Sorry, Sensei," intoned the boy, who'd totally and completely forgotten about the two teams waiting for him, "but you and Esmeralda-sensei wanted me to bring Naruto back and that's what I'm going to do." He considered his intended undertaking for a moment, frowned then added: "It's just…going to take me a little more time than I thought."

There was a moment of pause and then, "What's happened to him?"

"I don't know, Sensei."

"Do you know where he is?" Tomoki raised both hands and shrugged. "I see," said the jonin with only a hint of sarcasm. "So you really don't know anything, do you?"

"No sensei," the genin had to admit.

"Don't you think that maybe you're being a little foolish to just set off like this?"

Tomoki swallowed hard and couldn't help but think he had a point. This venture _was_ stupid, ill-conceived from the start, but the boy shook his head as if to dispel all doubt. "If all the facts were known and the reasons were clear then anyone would go," he stated but then his voice rose with emotion. "But it's not like that. Naruto's gone and he didn't just wander off. He didn't run away like I did that time. Foolish or not, I'm going."

Moments passed. Tomoki wasn't sure at all how Naruto's enigmatic sensei would react to a declaration like the one he'd just given and half expected to get a stunning chop to his neck, a swift kick to his ass or maybe both!

Kakashi Hatake, Tomoki considered, had always been hard to grasp. It was almost as if the jonin prided himself on being aloof, venturing occasionally past the point where he seemed merely cryptic. Those few perfunctory encounters the genin had had with the copy-ninja led him to assume that there was no way to tell what the man really thought or felt. Despite all that, Naruto really, really liked his new sensei and trusted him without reservation.

_And that,_ the boy considered, _has to count for something._

"And you really believe you can find him?" asked Kakashi flatly.

"Yes, Sensei," Tomoki managed to sound confident then awaited judgment as the jonin considered.

"Hurry back, Tomoki," Kakashi agreed after a few moments, "and this time I mean it."

Tomoki smiled, focused his thoughts on the image he'd drawn, then stepped forward and vanished into the pool of black.

Reappearing on a rocky, well-worn trail couched in the shadow of a ridge of jagged mountains, Tomoki's vision blurred with spots and streaks of light as he staggered and almost fell. The young ninja had never pushed his Shadow Gate Jutsu so hard or traveled so far before and the effort left him weak and dazed.

Suddenly, light blazed before him in a glorious fountain of prismatic hues and when he looked up, his jaw fell open and all feeling drained from his body as the divine presence of Buddha Himself towered before him.

The boy stared at the deity, awestruck; stared at his robes crafted in gold and blazing light, his round, powerful belly and massive palms – one beckoning toward heaven, the other invoking the earth. High above the little ninja the serene, infinitely kind, features of Buddha's benevolent face smiled and looked down.

Tears sprang to the genin's eyes and his shoulders quaked as he stood there frozen, with limbs trembling and shivers passing up and down his body.

Moments passed like an eternity spent hurtling through the cosmos before the ninja blinked and let himself fall slack. Buddha was still there but Tomoki let out a breath, raised an eyebrow then rested his hands on his hips. As his eyes adjusted, this divinity turned out to be only an image - a giant relief carved into the mountain's rocky face. The perplexed boy shook his head then rubbed his face and chuckled at himself.

"Huh…and I really thought -," Tomoki mumbled breathlessly then, after awhile, shook with laughter. "Yeah, right!" he cried. "I mean….wow, ha-ha!"

He looked again at the monument which was stained with time, rain and minerals. Moss clung to the stone folds of its robes, and small weeds and trees grew in the black, lightning-bolt shaped cracks.

"Ya got me!" the ninja admitted between gusts of weary laughter and blew out a breath in a great, relieved whoosh, "But there're no hard feelings." The genin pulled out his canteen, toasted his stone host, took a long, thirsty drink then wiped his lips with his sleeve.

"I guess getting here took even more out of me than I thought," Tomoki concluded, rubbed the back of his head then began to look around.

His paces took him to the edge of precipice that plunged down tree and rock studded slopes toward a river choked with boulders and debris. A sweep of his gaze left then right took in breathtaking mountain vistas. Peaks of bleached rock and stubborn green vegetation lead out toward the horizon in every direction the boy could see.

"This isn't right!" the wanderer complained loudly and his voice echoed back to him. "I'm supposed to be near the ocean!"

Pulling out the sketch he'd drawn, Tomoki scanned it then made a face and spat his disgust. _I can't believe I bought into all that 'trust your instincts' stuff_, he thought then added aloud: "What was I thinking! I'm so stupid!" The young, leaf-genin walked in rapid, frantic circles which took him back toward the Buddha. "See - sea!" he explained to it as he held up his drawing to the image.

The boy noticed then that at the carving's sandaled feet sat a collection of curious objects along with a pile of small stones.

Tomoki let out a breath and shook his head but eventually gave in as he remembered the custom from the little mountain village where he'd grown up. The ninja found a pebble of appropriate size then walked over and added it to the pile. This was his offering to the spirit of the place and he bowed his respects.

When he was through, the genin knelt and looked over the other objects. These were votives – pleas for Buddha's intervention, and varied from written scrolls and drawings that expressed their owners' wishes for health, wealth and long life to small engravings and figurines that pleaded for a successful journey or an end to a sickness.

The traveler sat down and rested his back against the stone. He hadn't planned on eating for a while but opened his pack and rummaged through it for some of the food he'd brought. Taking a bite of the bread, he found it crusty and flavorful but the peach was so far from ripe that it stuck in his teeth.

After Tomoki rested for awhile he moved to rise but found it difficult. He was completely exhausted from the effort of transporting himself here and his chakra hovered near zero. Though he hated the idea of delay, the genin gradually resolved to rest the night here and continue refreshed in the morning. Wandering in these unfamiliar mountains at night was unwise even for a trained ninja.

As the boy sighed and looked out at the mountain vistas lit in palettes of yellow and orange, Tomoki absently picked up a small carving of a human figure. It was rough textured by the knife that had crafted it and stained with garish colors. By the time the ninja had turned it over and over in his hand a few times, its intention had become clear – it was a plea for the return of a missing child.

The newcomer cast his gaze at the multitude of like carvings - the votives that scores of parents, brothers, sisters, friends, classmates and playmates had left in desperation with all worldly means exhausted.

_So…so many kids! How could that happen?_

In a rush, Tomoki felt suddenly overcome, as if all the grief that had been deposited there now flooded to take up residence within him. He shut his eyes solemnly, hung his head and almost immediately fell asleep amidst the votives there at the Buddha's feet.


	2. The Shining Summit

**Part 2: The Shining Summit**

"Do you know why you're here?" asked Iruka-sensei who, with shovel draped over his shoulder, gestured at the grove around them.

He had already dismissed the two-dozen or so workmen who were there when they arrived. The last of them, surprised and delighted at being relieved of their tasks but still with an assurance of being paid, thanked him gregariously and waved their grateful farewells.

"Yes, Sensei," Tomoki moaned gloomily, a distracted, far-way expression on his face.

They stood a little ways from the wooded outskirts of the village in the Grove of Martial Virtues where clusters of trees towered along a serpentine, gravel path. Up above the early morning's bright yellow sunlight danced through veils of deep green, occasionally striking through portals in the leafy canopies to touch the ground in solid-looking shafts. Off to one side sat three broad piles of flat stones that had been culled by size, a mound of sand, several shovels and a variety of other tools.

Already the twelve-year old had a bad feeling where this was going.

"Needless to say, I'm disappointed," Iruka continued brusquely. "When you vanished like that, I hardly knew what to think. I searched everywhere for you and I risked an awful lot keeping it to myself; you have no idea!" The chunin frowned and gathered his thoughts, paced away, then returned and pointed his finger squarely at the boy's forehead. "That headband you wear, that you _earned_, says that you're a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. It carries meaning and responsibilities. You can't just go off whenever you want."

"I understand that, Sensei," offered Tomoki, "and I'm sorry." His apology sounded faint and half-hearted only because he'd voiced it so often and in so many tones that he doubted one more would make a difference.

"Well…," began Iruka paternally with his stern manner seeming to yield just slightly, "I suppose it's mostly that you surprised me. I can't even remember having to raise my voice at you since you came here; I never needed to."

The boy bit his lip contritely. "I've…tried to be a good student, Iruka-sensei."

The chunin's frown held but his eyes softened as he said, "I know." But before Tomoki's expression could brighten too much, Iruka added: "Still…it remains, and so you still have to take one more test before I'm satisfied."

"A test?" Tomoki protested mildly then hesitated to point out: "But, sensei, I've already graduated."

The man grinned then leaned toward him. "I don't know what kind of academy you think it is but around here you're never too old or too smart for a test."

Tomoki relented, grimaced then asked, doubting he'd like the answer: "What kind of test?"

Iruka looked skyward and smiled cleverly. "Listen carefully; the first rule of this test is that you cannot stop until you are finished…"

By later that morning Tomoki had finished scribing broad circles around each of the five clusters of trees in red chalk and had then began to dig a shallow trench along the lines he'd laid.

A soft rustling approached through the trees. "Hey, Tomoki!" cried Naruto who squatted frog-like in a high branch with the broadest grin on his face. "Hee-hee, you got in troub-le!" he sang down at him.

Tomoki stared for a moment unsure of what to say to the genin who, only a few days ago, had risked everything to save his life…and who at the same time had revealed a terrible truth.

"Hi, Naruto," Tomoki greeted then turned back to his work. "Yeah, I guess I did."

The yellow-haired ninja cocked his head. "Don't let Sensei get to you," Naruto advised with an air of certainty. "Sure he's pissed-off now but he'll get over it. He _always_ does."

"I'm not so sure," ventured Tomoki who wiped his brow. "I never made any trouble before so I think maybe he thought I never would."

"Awww, come on Tom-tom, of _course_ he's going to be all tough on you and stuff."

Tomoki frowned, struck another shovel full of earth and turned it aside. "He seemed to take it…I don't know, personally."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "That's just because you don't have any experience getting in trouble like me!"

_Well, that's true,_ the genin recalled. _Sure I took off for a while but that's nothing compared to some of the things Naruto's none – like what he did to the faces of the four Hokages! _He looked up at Naruto who perched over him with elbows draped over his knees and a wide, careless smile on his face. _And that's just the beginning!_

Despite his doubts, a smile worked its way over Tomoki's face. "Maybe you're right," he acknowledged. "I hope so."

"You worry too much!" Naruto chided then asked, "Um, so what's he got you doing anyway? It looks pretty stupid to me."

Tomoki blew out a breath. "Iruka-sensei said I have to build these stacked-stone planter walls, knee-high, around every cluster of trees in the Grove of Martial Virtues; and I can't stop until I'm done."

"That should be easy!" the genin gusted. "I remember from class that there's only five martial virtues: charity, righteousness, um…forbearance, um…," his voice trailed off in frustration as he shut his eyes in furious thought. "Forbearance…grrr!"

Tomoki made a face. "You left out humility and propriety," he announced, then added under his breath, "Imagine that." He looked up again at Naruto. "Anyway, as you can see, each virtue is represented by a cluster of eight trees, so that's –."

"A lot of trees and a lot of walls," the ninja interrupted. "I get it; I get it. Well, _forget_ it! I'll help you out and between the two of us we'll be done in no time!"

"No, Naruto!" insisted Tomoki who held up his hands, alarmed. "I'm in enough trouble already. I've got to do this myself."

Naruto gave him a brief, sour look then shrugged absently. "Suit yourself!" he quipped, leaped off into the trees and was gone.

Tomoki's shovel bit again into the earth, cutting easily through the topsoil but not so easily through the clay and gravel that lay beneath.

_Alone again,_ he mused as he dug, careful to follow the radius he'd laid out. _Seems like my natural state. It served me well, I suppose – all that planning, training and waiting for the day when I could finally set things right. I never really thought I could kill Xiaomei but now that it's done…what do I do now?_

Morning dragged into afternoon when the full realization of how much work his task would entail set in. He'd worked furiously, digging trenches, laying sand beds and stacking stones but for all of that he'd only completed one which left four clusters of trees to go! Already his limbs and back ached and he sweated like a pack animal in the summer heat.

His hours of labor had been interrupted only once by Chouji and Shikamaru, two more of his fellow genin, who stopped to illustrate how they were going to enjoy the day while he was stuck here. Tomoki had only grinned at their teasing. Having been deliberately anonymous for so long, their attention would almost have been welcome if there wasn't so much more work to be done.

Hours more passed before he saw the end of his next trench in site, and the boy set himself toward finishing it. He dug furiously and plowed ahead, extending his chakra into the blade of his shovel the same way he did with his swords, but then slowly realized that he was not alone and perhaps had not been for some while. Tomoki sighed tiredly then raised his shovel and stuck it into the ground beside him.

Shaking his head, he muttered: "My _zanshin_ skills really need some work, letting someone sneak up on me like that," then announced tensely with exaggerated cordiality: "but I'm glad that you find me so entertaining!" The ninja straightened his stiffening back and frowned then shut his eyes to concentrate on the newcomer's energy. "Well, come on, what can I do for you, brother -," his face lifted uncertainly, "excuse me, sister…Hinata?" He turned around slowly, doubting himself, but when he did the genin found that it was indeed Hinata Hyuga who awaited him.

"Oh! Excuse me, Tomoki," she greeted softly. "I didn't want to interrupt, so I thought I'd just wait for you to take a rest."

"I…I see," he muttered apologetically. The boy was nonplussed by her consideration and bowed slightly to her. Hinata, a pretty, dark-haired girl with eyes of pale lavender, waited patiently with hands clasped near the fleeced hem of her hooded, light grey jacket. "Well…what brings you out here?" asked Tomoki. "There're so many better ways to spend a summer day as Chouji and Shikamaru, so clearly and kindly pointed out to me earlier."

Hinata fidgeted then inquired gently, "Ah, well, I saw you and Iruka-sensei head this way earlier this morning…so I was curious…"

Tomoki thought about it for a moment and smiled. "Oh, you mean because he carried a shovel?" he said with a chuckle. "And maybe he killed and buried me out here? That really would've been a hard punishment!" His laughter faded as a quick glance around informed him again of the work that remained for him to do and he rubbed his cheek in dismay. "I guess the joke's on me. At least that would've been quick and painless."

He looked at her and smiled nervously. He'd rarely ever found himself alone with a girl and, until this moment, had never given Hinata much thought…her, anyone or anything else, so consumed had he been in thoughts of revenge. Now that he did, he realized that her soft-spoken nature and gentle personality was a refreshing change from the attitude and bluster of most of the other genin; that and she was indeed quite pretty.

"I wanted to ask you, and I hope you don't mind," she inquired, "are you and Naruto friends?"

The question took him from his reverie. "Huh?" he replied. "Well, sure, I suppose so."

Hinata turned her head. "I didn't realize," she continued with a nervous tremor in her voice. "How long have you been friends?"

The genin stared for a moment. The truth was on the tip of his tongue. _Well, you see, Hinata, just a few days ago Naruto helped me kill this evil witch with terrible powers along with her army of monsters. If he hadn't shown up, I'd definitely be dead - torn to shreds out there in the forest somewhere._ He tested out how it sounded in his head then dismissed it as TMI. "I don't know," he answered with forced nonchalance. "Who knows how stuff like that happens anyway, right?"

Hinata nodded obligingly while Tomoki took up his shovel to give his hands something to occupy them. "I'm surprised, that's all," she offered. "It didn't seem like you ever thought very well of him."

The boy's gaze fell. "Uh…well, yeah, that's true, Hinata, I didn't," he admitted then scooped another shovel full of earth. "Actually, for a long while I thought he was…well, kinda loud." He paused in thought for a moment then expounded: "not to mention dumb, abrasive, obnoxious and often deliberately unpleasant."

"Oh," the girl remarked with a trace of stung disappointment before continuing hopefully, "but…you've changed your mind?"

Tomoki's brow furrowed and he shook his head. "Mmm…no, not really, aside from the 'dumb' part, but," he gestured vaguely, "there's more to him than _just_ that." He set the blade of his shovel into the ground and leaned on the handle then his eyes flicked up and saw that Hinata was waiting for him to continue. "I mean, he doesn't scare easy, you know. He always tries hard, he's not selfish…and he's – he's _kind."_ The boy considered what he'd related and added quietly: "That last one was probably the biggest surprise."

"Ah, I see," she sang, genuinely buoyed by his report.

Tomoki smiled but then, unaccustomed to saying so explicitly what he thought, suddenly felt foolish. "Of course, I don't mean to make it sound like _I'm_ any big deal, and really I have no right judging him or anyone else because I have my faults too…so I'm told," he explained hastily then joked: "And that's why I'm out here…sentenced to hard labor!"

Hinata laughed as the boy draped his arm over his eyes in a melodramatic expression of woe. "Oh, I didn't take it like that," she hurried to explain, "I just wondered, that's all."

Tomoki gave her a relieved smile. "Yeah, it's funny how you can know someone like that for years and not really know them at all," he observed, but his casual voice gradually lowered until he added hollowly: "You just get used to seeing past them, or through them; like they're just part of the background." His eyes rose toward Hinata's, then looked away. "It's a kind of contempt, you know, and I hate to think about how much he didn't deserve that…or you either, Hinata."

"I…," she started then fell silent. "I never took it as that, and you shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

An awkward silence ensued before Tomoki, sweating and disconcerted, was able to speak again. "Um, well, I should be getting back to it. I've got kind of a lot more work to do before I'm done. It looks like I'll be here all night and maybe the day and night after."

Hinata looked up. "Oh, yes, I can see that," she replied charitably and turned slightly to go. "Good luck, Tomoki. I really enjoyed talking with you and, I guess…I'll see you around." The boy nodded his farewell and had almost turned back to his digging when, unexpectedly, Hinata turned back. "I can help you," she offered, "if you want, but I can't stay too long."

Tomoki's joints and the practical side of his nature demanded he accept, and then too wouldn't it be nice to have company, especially her company? "No," he managed to say at last, though the word tasted like gravel. "I'm grateful for the offer but this is my sentence…and I'll have to serve it."

_Hours _more passed. Sweat seeped through Tomoki's already soaked headband, then continued through it to pour down his flushed face as he set stone after stone into place, making sure the joints were interlocked and level. He dared not look up. If he did, he knew he'd see the twenty-four remaining trees – three more clusters that awaited his attention.

As he'd done so many times already, the genin plodded again back to the pile and, with a gust of breath and a grunt of exertion, hoisted a stone the size of a loaf of bread. He trudged back and heaved it into place. The effort took all his strength and it seemed impossible to him that this stone wasn't somehow heavier by far than those he'd started with. Exhausted, muscles burning from strain, he fell to his knees and rested his head against the knee-high wall.

Naruto's teasing voice reached him through his bone-weariness, "Hey, Tomoki."

Tomoki wet his dry lips. "Hi again, Naruto," he answered faintly.

"Still at it, huh? It sure looks like you've got a loooong way to go," said the ninja with an astute air.

Tomoki just nodded. He couldn't spare the energy to look but felt Naruto's cool, supportive hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"So what do you say?" asked the newcomer. "Do you want my help _now?_"

Tomoki winced and his expression betrayed defeat as he nodded again.

Naruto snickered and bent to look closely at his face. "What's that?" he asked, feigning confusion. "I'm not sure I understand you right."

Tomoki scowled. "Yes, Naruto," he began dryly then went right for the overkill, "…oh great number-one ninja and future greatest-of-all-Hokages, please help me build the rest of these stupid walls!"

"Ha!" Naruto pealed victoriously. "I knew you'd come around! Now, stand back and be amazed!" His fingers came together to make the hand signs as he cried: "Shadow-Clone Jutsu!"

Immediately there appeared around them an entire crew of Narutos. Tomoki's eyes widened as he turned toward his friend and pushed himself to his feet. Though he'd seen this jutsu before it never failed to astound, especially now when its usefulness was so obvious. "That's great, Naruto," he remarked but his relief turned to alarm as this army of Narutos all took up shovels and stones and charged the grove like cavalry. "Whoa!" Tomoki shouted, waved his arms and moved to head them off, putting both outstretched palms into the lead Naruto's chest. "Wait! Stop!"

The clones behind the first stopped short, bumped into each other and jostled themselves back before they gathered around Tomoki, piqued with disbelief. "What's the problem?" barked one. "Yeah, what gives?" demanded another as complaints rippled through the orange-clad crowd.

Tomoki panted, collected his breath then asked their leader: "Do you know what you're doing?" The Narutos straightened and looked around at each other. "Well? Do any of you?" the genin continued then gave them all a sweeping, pointed glance. At length, when their puzzled, guilty silence affirmed that they didn't, Tomoki went on to explain: "Ok…well here's what you guys need to do…and I mean _carefully…"_

* * *

Tomoki's eyes slid open with the morning light that drove away dream and remembrance. The first thing that lit his vision was a bright vista of mountain peaks - tooth-like profiles of white, brown and green set against a pale, cloud-smeared sky. _What am I doing here?_ he asked himself and rubbed his dull, brown eyes as the realization settled over him like a cold fog: _Naruto can't be way out here…it's impossible. I'm SUCH an idiot._

A wind blew, whistling as it coursed over the rocks and through the hearty shrubs that clung to them. High above, a pair of condors circled. _Where am I anyway…is this even the same continent; the same planet?_ He stood for awhile, shivering in the morning chill, and wondered what to do. Should he go back or go on; if he went on, which direction? The boy turned then and, finally out of sheer frustration, looked up at the great, carved Buddha.

"Ok, you decide," the ninja suggested as he took out one of his double-edged kunai knives then tossed it into the air with a spin. When it landed Tomoki looked out toward where it pointed – down the trail, an ancient caravan route worn by men's footsteps, cart wheels and mule, horse and lama hooves since perhaps the beginning of civilization.

The boy sighed as he accepted the verdict then removed his hitai-ate and threw on a worn, caped, travelers coat to conceal his weapons and uniform. From his albeit limited experience 'Hi, I'm a heavily-armed ninja!' was not something that everyone responded well to, so he decided to keep his vocation concealed for now.

Fairly certain that this was a wasted effort even before he began he frowned, shook his head then started to walk.

When the sun had reached its zenith, Tomoki came to a crossroads where two caravan trains, one from the north and one from the west, joined to go south. Mules brayed and horses whinnied as they labored with their loads; their drivers flicked whips, cursed and shouted as they went. Tomoki watched for awhile as cart after cart passed, loaded with cut stone, planks and dimensional lumber, barrels full of nails, quicklime, and tar. More wagons came, bearing upon them gracefully carved friezes and statues of heroes, mythological creatures and animals.

Moved by curiosity, and seeing no better alternative, Tomoki joined in behind.

It wasn't more than an hour's travel afterward that the genin spied their destination. There on a broad stretch of land saddled between peaks sprawled a village, above which loomed a grand monastery under construction. High, scaffold-covered walls of white and red painted, plastered masonry rose up from the mountain face, and from each of its many corners towered a magnificent, tiered pagoda.

Tomoki's eyes followed along the network of scaffolds and the workmen who climbed and scurried along them like ants. Atop one of the pagodas, a team of men laid metal-faced pan-tiles. One and sometimes two at a time, workers on the lower scaffolds tossed the tiles up while those on the high roofs caught them then stooped to anchor them in place. Towering over all was a pair of massive tower cranes, whose long, trussed and triangular-profiled, steel arms swung over the buildings below, lifting huge loads from place to place as if they were no more than feathers.

Tomoki grinned, entranced by the spectacle, and stopped periodically to watch as he walked. The wind blew just then and the sun's light which had been hindered by clouds now shone through. The genin's eyes swam suddenly as he was gripped by a powerful sense of having been here before. Light gleamed and danced off the pagodas' shining, tiled roofs, shimmering like water.

_Like waves!_ Tomoki realized, gasped and stopped dead. His hand reached through his coat, inside his vest and tore out the sketch he'd drawn in Ichi's parlor. A chill fell over him. His brown eyes raced between the drawing and the vista, to this monastery's pagodas and their curved, hipped roofs which, abstracted, looked very much like waves with the mountain peak that rose behind it an island!

He rubbed his hand down his face, caught between hope and disbelief. "But…," he sputtered and looked back, "it can't be. It's not really possible! Is it?" Acutely, the genin remembered that this was not the first time he'd doubted old-man Ichi's council OR the first time he'd been left humbled by his wisdom.

With renewed purpose, Tomoki followed the caravan through town to the grand, gold and coral-red gates of the monastery where guards stood – men in blue and plum dyed robes and pointed caps who admitted wagons and workers but shooed away beggars and gawkers. With barely a break in his stride, Tomoki stole a shovel from the side of one of the wagons, put it over his shoulder then walked through the gates unimpeded.

This was no jutsu or any other sort of ninja art. He simply didn't stand out and never had. Unlike Naruto with his colorful attire, bright yellow hair and blazing eyes, or Sasuke's dark, brooding and smolderingly-handsome countenance, Tomoki's features were more-or-less ordinary, instantly forgettable and so the boy could walk through a crowded room without drawing a single glance. Even those who did see him would be hard pressed to recall what he looked like if asked afterwards.

Beyond a pair of impressive, painted lions that waited just inside the main gates, the courtyard within was in a state of barely-controlled chaos. Workmen representing dozens of different building trades roamed and rushed in all directions: carpenters, stone masons, plasterers and painters, roofers, glaziers and smiths. Voices shouted and rang amidst stacks of material. Hammers clanged, motors roared, saws ripped, and billows of dust and diesel smoke drifted in thick clouds. Although he was familiar with these sorts of activities, the sheer scope of it surpassed anything Tomoki had ever seen before and he looked and wandered around with mouth agape.

"Are you lost, young master?" a pleasant-enough voice greeted him through the din.

The genin turned toward the source, a strong and mellow tenor. It was a woman, dressed in robes of grey and brown, only a bit taller than Tomoki was but still with a regal bearing, long, ashen hair and skin the color of burnished wood.

Tomoki bowed at once. "No, ma'am," the genin answered humbly, knowing he'd been busted. "I'm just…having a look around."

"Hmm," she snorted direly, "it seems the vigilance of our custodians leaves something to be desired." The woman winced once with annoyance but then smiled understandingly. "It is quite exciting, isn't it," she admitted warmly, "all this bustle?"

"Yes, ma'am."

A stern look crossed the grey-haired matron's brow as she scolded him, "You must understand that it is quite dangerous here."

"Oh?" Tomoki cocked an eyebrow, suddenly alert. "How's that?"

She frowned incredulously at the boy's remark, clearly having taken it as cluelessness. "Just look around you!" she admonished. "Think about it - you could get hit in the head with a stone or a dropped tool, or run over by a cart. Not everyone pays attention the way they should."

"Ah," said Tomoki, who relaxed. "I'll try to be careful, ma'am."

"See that you do," she instructed maternally. "I'd hate for you to be hurt."

"Oh, well, me too," the boy concurred while she scrutinized him.

"You're a curious child. Are you from the village? I don't recall having seen you there?"

"No ma'am, I'm from…uh, very far away," Tomoki offered vaguely.

"Oh, I see, a wanderer or a pilgrim, maybe," ventured the woman. "Well, if you'd like to see the place, I'd be happy to show you. After all, you've come all this way. My name is Anura Pakri and I welcome you to the Shining Summit Monastery."

Tomoki's expression brightened. "Thank you, Ms. Pakri. My name is Tomoki."

Anura led the visitor to quieter precincts where the tumult of construction was softer. Together they passed through verdant courtyards where ornamental gardens bloomed, fountains flowed and bubbled, musicians played instruments, and students pursued their studies.

"Huh…," remarked Tomoki, quite impressed. He asked some conversational questions here and there but was otherwise silent. Anura, though guiding him, did not find it necessary to talk very much either and was content to let what was there speak for itself.

Eventually they proceeded into a courtyard where the monastery's disciples practiced martial arts. His professional curiosity peaked, Tomoki studied their movements. They were only beginners, rank amateurs by his standards, and were learning basic postures, attacks and defenses.

"Ms. Pakri?" inquired Tomoki after awhile. "What is it you all do here?"

"That is a very basic and important question, young man," Anura commented. "As you've seen, we do a great deal of things. We farm and raise livestock, cook and clean like all men and women do. We also exercise, study medicine, philosophy and the physical sciences but mostly we pray and meditate."

Tomoki's brow rose. "Oh?"

"Indeed," the woman replied with a smile. "Meditation promotes overall well-being and a restful spirit; through prayer we seek communion with and connection to the guiding force of the universe." She cast her guest a glance as a concerned look passed over his face. "You don't seem satisfied by my answer. Do you not think that enough? Our aim is to encourage the world's progression towards a more harmonious state, free of strife and tyranny. Self-cultivation is our starting point."

"I meant no disrespect, Ms. Pakri; it's just that…it's just -," Tomoki hastened to clarify then blurted, "I should have told you this before: I'm not a pilgrim or wanderer."

Anura accepted his news in stride. "It was just starting to dawn on me that that could be the case. So what is it that's brought you here then, Tomoki? Is it just curiosity?" the woman asked and looked at him sagely. "It's all right with me if it is. Personally, I consider it highest among the virtues."

Tomoki smiled then snickered at her assertion. "Only in part, Ms. Pakri," he told her. "The truth is that I'm looking for someone. And I've really, really got to find him."

"Go on then," she said and nodded agreeably. "Tell me who it is. I know almost everyone in Shijun, Ma Shan, Ying and all the little inns and caravansaries in between."

The boy's expression flushed with gratitude at finding in Anura Pakri a helpful and knowledgeable soul then turned serious as he began. "You'd remember him! About so tall," Tomoki described and raised his fingers level, "bright, bushy, yellow hair, funny marks on his cheeks, orange clothes and a very…um, peculiar sort of personality."

The old woman looked at him doubtfully and raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, child. I never saw anyone like that; I'm quite sure I'd remember."

Tomoki's shoulders slumped. "I guess…it was a long shot."

* * *

The pair continued their way through the monastery's expansive grounds then turned into a courtyard enclosed by high, scaffold-covered walls which were still under construction. High above swept the mighty arms of the tower cranes. Though hundreds of feet over their heads, their size still made Tomoki want to duck whenever their huge, blurry shadows passed by.

Lumber, brick and stone lay everywhere in piles, palettes and stacks, along with pyramids of barrels and sacks full of mortar and concrete. But none of that is what made Tomoki's eyes widen as he slowed to stop; for atop a stepped plinth at the center of the courtyard stood a massive, black bell. Over two stories it rose from a broad oval base to where it curved slightly in toward the flattened top then ended in a ring.

"You should find this interesting," remarked Anura. "This is the Courtyard of the Great Bell."

Almost hypnotized by its presence Tomoki paced toward the bell until he stood before it. He craned his head to take in its ponderous dimensions then looked closer at the curious runes and glyphs stamped into its iron surface.

"Wow," remarked the boy obtusely but in earnest, "that's a big bell."

"Indeed," his guide agreed as she joined him. "It is impressive," she said admiringly. "I'm still not quite used to it."

Tomoki rapped his fingers against the monolith to judge its thickness and found it nearly solid as far as he could tell. "It's amazing," the young ninja muttered as he ran his hands over the bell's iron flank then turned toward Anura as the thought struck him. "How on earth did you get it here?"

"To be sure, I don't know," the older woman admitted. "Only the Abbot knows that. If you like, I'll take you to see him and you can ask him yourself."

"What? Oh!" answered Tomoki who started to laugh.

Anura tilted her head. "What's funny?"

"Oh, well, it's just that…I kind of took _you_ for the abbot, uh, abbotess….," he hedged then paused for a moment seeking help, "mother superior?"

"I know what you mean," she rescued him then laughed lightly. "But just because someone's old doesn't mean they're wise."

"I didn't mean it like that," said the genin, somewhat embarrassed. "It's just that you're very, um, respectable-looking."

She raised an eyebrow. "Young man, take some advice from an old woman," she began with a professorial air, "you must learn how to flatter much better than that. It is an underrated skill that will serve you well for all your days."

Tomoki returned a bashful smile. "Seriously, Ms. Pakri, if you're ever put in charge here you certainly look the part."

"Mmm," she considered, and a corner of her lips turned up. "Yes, that's some better."

The boy grinned. "Thanks, and I'd really like to meet your Abbot," he began then proposed hopefully, "maybe _he'll_ know where I can find Naruto." A chill fell over him just then as he felt a malevolent energy with an even more malevolent intention hover close to the edges of his senses. His eyes darted toward the gate then scanned along the high walkways that connected the courtyard's four corner pagodas.

"Goodness," Anura startled. "Are you feeling alright?"

The genin forced himself to relax and let his hands fall from where he normally wore swords. "It's nothing, Ms. Pakri," he replied then smiled to put her at ease. "I guess I'm just jittery."

At length, the old woman took Tomoki up a long stairway that wound back and forth up to a promontory that afforded a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and down into the twisting valleys below. They navigated though a crowd of brightly painted statues, all heroic men and women with arms and armor, which were in the process of being cleaned by some of the Shining Summit's disciples.

"I know Abbot Lin comes up here often to direct matters and oversee the construction," Anura explained then put her hand on Tomoki's shoulder as they approached a small group of people who looked out at the works below. "Oh, there he is. Let me tell him you're here."

The Abbot was easy to spot amidst the engineers and tradespeople. The man was quite tall and slender, and wore a tunic of brilliant white and robes trimmed with red and gold. A cascade of long, white hair, not grey like Anura's, but perfect white flowed from his head and the boy surmised that the Abbot must be quite old. The leaf-ninja brushed himself off and prepared to be at his most gracious and humble, as he would be in the presence of the Hokage himself.

Anura Pakri greeted the Abbot then gestured in his direction. She said a few words to the man then departed somewhat to Tomoki's surprise, having expected that she'd remain with him. The Abbot turned and looked toward the newcomer, revealing a carefree, exuberant face possibly as young as Tomoki's own.

_He…he's only a kid!_ the ninja thought. _No older than I am, IF that!_ His brow rose as he took in his host – his translucent eyes, pale and blue, his sharp-featured face, pointed chin, slender frame, long, broomstick limbs, and that mane of white hair that draped clear down his back. It was all Tomoki could do to keep from laughing!

The child abbot smiled gently and came toward him. All the while Tomoki bit down hard on his giggling then quickly composed himself and remembered that people were often not as they appeared. With that in mind Tomoki lowered himself to his knees - right leg first, then left, put his hands together to form a triangle and bowed his head to the ground.

"Revered Abbot," he greeted in a humble, steady voice. "I'm honored to meet you."

"Please rise," said Abbot Lin with amicable urgency and helped him back to his feet. "There's no need for such formality although I deeply appreciate your respects."

Tomoki was taken for a moment by the boy's…by the Abbot's reassuring manner and the calm in his eyes. "Th…thank you for receiving me, Revered Abbot."

"Please," he laughed, "Abbot Lin is more than enough. I hope I may call you Tomoki since Anura speaks so well of you."

"Of course," the boy agreed.

"She is an excellent judge of character, Tomoki, and I can only hope that I may call all she calls friends mine as well." Before the genin could answer, Lin went on, "I do apologize that you should arrive just now with my house in such a dreadful state of disarray."

"Not at all, Rev…Abbot Lin."

"But all this dust!" the white-haired boy exclaimed and waved his arm. "There's debris everywhere, and the noise…"

Tomoki chuckled. "Really, I don't mind."

The monastery's master returned a warm smile. "I'm glad you feel that way." Together, they stopped to watch a tower crane raise a huge, stone statue of the legendary hero, General Kuan up into the air as if by magic. "To be honest, although I despise the mess, it moves me to my very soul to see so many men and women engaged in a constructive, common purpose."

"Ahh," the young ninja began uncertainly, "yes, I can see that."

A sly grin crossed the Abbot's childlike face and Tomoki wondered if his deference was really necessary. This guy seemed more like a classmate, a novice like himself, than a spiritual leader. But the Abbot continued in a confident, assured manner that really did make him seem older than he appeared: "I've only been here a short while, so I'm anxious to see things improve. My predecessor, Abbot Cheong, was a fine man but, alas, not very ambitious. Our temple and all the nearby towns and camps suffered greatly under his complacency."

The genin blinked. "I'm sorry to hear that, Abbot Lin," said Tomoki agreeably as he followed him down a broad, spiral stairway. "I'm not from here so I didn't realize. This place seems peaceful enough."

"And so it is…for now," Lin reported somewhat gravely. "But the mountains and trails of Shijun have been scenes of great violence."

"What, really?" piped Tomoki with surprise.

The Abbot shot him a look of disbelief. "You must have traveled from far, far away not to know the story," he laughed and shook his head. "This whole region has been preyed upon for some time by a bandit army called the Dancing Stones. Believe me when I tell you – they are unsurpassed in viciousness and cruelty. Training fighting men and women to hold our borders and man garrisons on the trails and trade routes to counter them is one of my chief, ongoing concerns, one I hadn't counted on.

"Abbot Cheong was content to placate the bandits which only made them bolder. It wasn't until I, with my brother Hsien and sister Inakaya, encouraged the people to fight back that we were able to put a stop to their forays."

"That's good," Tomoki remarked seriously, nonplussed at being confided in so quickly and to such an extent. The spiral stair opened out into a wide balcony that overlooked most of the monastery. From here its architecture unfolded – clusters of irregular courts arranged around gardens, pools and statuary. Portions of it were quite old and there had been many subsequent additions over the ages but there was much more in progress. "It looks and sounds like you've done a lot of good here," the boy opined, not being above stooping to a little ingratiation so long there was a seam of honesty to it.

The Abbot shrugged. "I like to think so. But in truth," he hesitated as a sad, pensive look crossed his youthful, porcelain face, "I think it's the strength of all these good people that shines through despite my many shortcomings."

Moments passed in silence before Tomoki noted his host's stricken look. "What's wrong?" he asked tentatively.

The Abbot's brow furrowed with anger. "Despite all we've done they still come," he hissed with sudden intensity. "They take our children."

"You mean the bandits?" The leaf-ninja straightened. "So that's what's going on," he said and nodded seriously as he remembered. "I saw the votives and offerings left for the Buddha."

Lin continued to stare out over his domain as the wind blew fitfully through his long hair and robes. "I've studied great leaders," he began. "The aphorism is that 'with great power comes great responsibility'. I accept that as a divine truth and so it hurts me deeply and personally, Tomoki, every time it happens.

"We are remote and far from any jurisdiction out here. The nearest is the Land of Earth and they've shown no interest in this difficult country. As Abbot of this monastery, an outpost of civilization, my modest authority is all there is. It is unbearable to me that it is insufficient even to safeguard the precious lives of those my beliefs bind me to protect."

Tomoki stood by, entranced by the profundity of the Abbot's feelings, and felt bad at having nothing to offer in consolation.

The strange, taller boy spared the genin any further thought. Lin chuckled suddenly and a broad smile appeared on his face as he said: "Just listen to me lay my burden on the shoulders of a guest. Please forgive me. It is hardly the behavior of a spiritual man."

Tomoki matched his smile. "I've met a lot of people who called themselves spiritual," he recounted, not knowing yet what he was going to say, "…a few who others called spiritual but none I thought were. So you're doing just fine as far as I can tell."

His remark brought the Abbot up short. "Thank you, Tomoki," he replied in mild amazement. "That means a great deal to me."

The two roamed the monastery's grounds where Abbot Lin delighted in showing the visitor its mundane areas: training grounds, kitchens and classrooms as well as its many wonders: libraries, cisterns, apiary, and even an observatory. Everywhere they went, blue and plum robed disciples bowed to their master who always returned a nod in kind as was proper. Lin celebrated his accomplishments with Tomoki but lamented that, being rather young and inexperienced, many of his elders had difficulty trusting him and were actually quite put off by his exuberance.

Regarding the particulars of the Shining Summit's order the Abbot was vague, perhaps sensing Tomoki's reticence on religious matters. It was, apparently, rooted in ideas common to all religions but expressed though self-cultivation and a desire to perfect the world as their means of connecting with a higher power.

After a while the Abbot asked, "I realize the question may be indiscreet but please, I'd truly like to know – to what faith do you adhere?"

Tomoki gave him a glance and shook his head.

Lin studied his evasive expression. "Your belief must be highly priced indeed if no religion is worthy of it," he ventured teasingly.

"Faith is not something to be surrendered easily," replied the boy with a dismal shrug, not meaning to be clever or worse - churlish.

The Abbot shook his head and his pale brow narrowed reprovingly. "You are too young to be so cynical," he advised and wagged his finger, rising to the challenge. "Cynics are never fulfilled, young master Tomoki."

The genin smiled tightly then shrugged again and answered more bitterly than he intended, "But we're never disappointed either."

Lin's shoulders slumped. "I may have had that coming," he confessed amiably enough then looked at his guest with heartbreaking concern. "Tomoki, please forgive my temerity but I really do wish to know what it was that turned you from the spiritual path? I don't sense that it was always so with you."

For a moment Tomoki's eyes narrowed into a glare then he turned away with thoughts conflicted. One objected – _Who the hell is this guy: asking me something like that, Abbot or not!_ Another supported – _He sure seems to mean it, like it really is personally important to him…not just part of the job._ Only after some deliberation did Tomoki give in and explained, as he once had to Naruto, how the witch Xiaomei had destroyed his province with her magic and monsters, and rendered him an orphan.

"That's why I have no last name," he intoned. "I have no family, no clan, not even a village I can say I come from. The few who lived were all cast to the winds."

The Abbot sighed solemnly. "Ah, I had no idea. I had assumed that whatever had marred your life had been caused by one or more of the great ills that plague civilization: desire, greed, ignorance…," Abbot Lin said and nodded sympathetically. "I wouldn't have guessed that it would involve so many of them or the singularly dark evil to which some people aspire. And Xiaomei's name is not unfamiliar to me." Lin paused and steepled his hands under his chin. "Tell me: did no one stand up to oppose her?"

Tomoki closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Oh." The Abbot bit his lip. "Well, perhaps no one was strong enough. I heard her powers are truly fearful," he said and searched his guest's staring expression. "Surely, though, the forces of civilization came to your aid once Xiaomei and her armies had departed?"

Tomoki rendered him a look.

"No?" the white-haired boy gasped in disbelief then squawked, "Inexcusable! To allow such lawlessness to proceed. If barbarity afflicts one province or even one person, then it afflicts all!" The Abbot fell quiet and raised his palms. "I suppose ranting about her misdeeds now or the coldhearted treatment you received does little good."

Tomoki managed a sad smile. "I appreciate it anyway."

"I am truly sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"But it is!" Lin insisted then put his hands on Tomoki's shoulders, turned him around and looked him in the eyes. "I would like to apologize…on behalf of all civilized people for allowing her abuses to go unanswered and for abandoning you when you needed help."

The boy stared at him for a moment, taken aback by his sudden passion and all but certain of his madness, but a tremor went through him too. "T-thank you," he offered gratefully. "No one's ever…ever said anything like that to me."

Even the Abbot was speechless for a moment before he prophesized: "Perhaps one day when my, my brother's and my sister's martial and spiritual powers are greater, our paths will cross – ours and Xiaomei's."

"No," Tomoki reported. "They won't."

"Oh?" Lin raised a white eyebrow as he examined the genin's face. He straightened suddenly. "Ah! I see," he said and his voice crested. "You did not wait, hope or pray for the swords of heavenly justice to answer! You seized them yourself and put an end to her once and for all, how marvelous!" the lanky, white-haired boy exulted dramatically with his long arms opening wide.

Tomoki looked at Lin in shock, that he could discern so much from his brief answer. "Do you think so?" the fledgling ninja muttered, astonished by the Abbot's grandiose conclusion. "I wonder sometimes if it wasn't just revenge, and I think about everything else I could have done with my life if I hadn't been so focused on getting it."

"Nonsense!" Lin remonstrated, waving away Tomoki's concerns and taking him by the arm. "Celebrate your accomplishment!" he counseled eagerly. "Not everyone has it in them to do as you have done: to rid the world of a great evil. Tomoki, there can be no greater service to mankind. You have furthered the great cause of civilization! There should be statues of you towering tall over all lands where great deeds are celebrated!"

Mystified, the boy's jaw dropped. "I don't know about all that…," he mumbled skeptically.

"None of that!" the Abbot reaffirmed. "Even modesty must have its limits. You are a great warrior; I could tell from the very first moment we met. It cannot be chance, but providence that has carried you to my door. Please, Tomoki, would you stay here? Be a part of my order?"

Tomoki, surprised, looked back at his host as if in a daze. "You're very kind to invite me, Abbot Lin," he replied, "but I have…obligations." He looked up into Lin's face and smiled, trying to salve his host's obvious disappointment. "You're right, though, about it not being chance that brought me here."

The Abbot nodded. "Yes, Anura told me."

"And I should have asked long before now because, well, if you haven't seen my friend then I should be going." Tomoki described Naruto as he had for Anura earlier. The Abbot's thin lips parted and he said gravely: "I know this boy you're looking for."

"What?" Tomoki startled. "Have you really seen him? Where? When?" he piped urgently. "Was he alright?"

The taller boy backed away then quieted him with upraised palms and a sad expression came over his face. "He is not alright, Tomoki."

"What do you mean?" asked the genin anxiously.

Abbot Lin looked away. "I hate to be the one to tell you news like this," he began somberly, "but this friend you're looking for is afflicted and so, regrettably, has been condemned to incarceration…beneath the great bell."

The ninja stared at him blankly for a moment then chuckled. "Right…," he offered sarcastically and shook his head. "Yeah, sure…," Tomoki went on, searching his host's face for any trace of mirth but found none. In the end he swallowed hard and his whole face started to heat as he began to accept as the truth what the Abbot had said. "But…why?" the boy struggled to get the words out, "why would you do something like that?"

Abbot Lin, clearly disconcerted by Tomoki's growing alarm, explained, "This golden-haired boy you seek is the vessel for a terrible demon, a diabolical spirit born ages ago - none other than Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine-tailed fox!

"The elemental strength and powerful enchantments laid upon the great bell will insure that the beast will never again be free to wreak havoc upon the earth."

Lin's words rang in Tomoki's mind and his breath quickened frantically. At once, and without a word more, the ninja bolted. His strides carried him like the wind from courtyard to courtyard where he weaved through disciples and workmen until he arrived at last back in the Courtyard of the Great Bell.

The genin rushed up before the bell's monolithic form, froze then began to pace around it as he searched its adamantine face for any signs of an aperture or opening, anything that might hint of a way in. Finally, in frustration, he threw himself against its iron walls and tested his strength but to no avail. If anything, the metal monolith seemed even more ponderous and impenetrable than before. He pounded it with his fists.

"Naruto!" Tomoki shouted then circled the bell again in growing desperation.

"Tomoki…," Abbot Lin's voice called to him softly but with an underlying insistence. "Stop this. What's done is done. It's for the good of the whole world and so you must accept it."

Tomoki whirled angrily. "Accept what?" he railed and cast a sweeping, contemptuous gesture toward the bell. "That you've trapped my friend under this stupid bell to die of thirst, of hunger, alone in the dark…?" His eyes lifted suddenly with inspiration and he smiled when he observed, "Yes…it must be very dark in there." The genin ran around the bell until he reached the side of it that was deep in shadow. His fingers flew as he summoned his chakra. "Ninja art: Shadow Gate Jutsu!" he shouted, but the energies he summoned broke apart against those of the great bell like a wave crashing upon a rocky shore.

"Tomoki!" the monastery's master pleaded. "It's no use; there is no force, spell or technique that can penetrate this prison. Please, won't you see reason? I'm sorry that we've upset you but there's nothing more to be done."

The ninja's temper flared. "Listen to me, Abbot Lin," he hissed and scowled. "I will NOT leave without him!"

Another voice cried stridently, "How dare you say something like that to the Abbot?"

The voice was met with a grumble of murmurs and shouts of support and Tomoki realized suddenly that his argument had drawn quite a crowd. Some were only curious laborers but most were disciples in their blue and plum robes and hats. A pair of them came at him suddenly. The genin fired a heel into the first man's thigh – so hard that the bone almost broke and so fast that the disciple hadn't seen it coming. The second reached out to grab then dropped to the ground as Tomoki seized his offending hand and bent it back against the wrist at an excruciating angle.

The Abbot fumed, twitched and paced. "Enough, Tomoki!" he cried. "Don't you dare take your anger out on my followers. They have nothing to do with this!"

More men rushed at Tomoki. He caught a flailing arm, pivoted sharply and sent his attacker flying back into his comrades. Another ran at him, throwing punches but the ninja grabbed his sleeve, dropped down and swept his legs out with the other arm to send him sailing over his back.

One after the other, he sidestepped, deflected, struck, or threw the Abbot's fighters until he stood alone in a piled-up circle of those he'd defeated. They rubbed their arms, nursed wrists and ribs, and wiped blood from lips and noses.

"Call them off, Abbot," demanded Tomoki who flung off his traveler's cloak to reveal his uniform and swords. "Your followers are well-meaning and all-together they might even beat me but not without cost."

The white-haired boy's face twisted with consternation. "Get away," he shouted at his disciples. "Get back, all of you. Clear this courtyard at once, I order it!"

Tomoki almost relaxed at the Abbot's announcement but then: "Don't worry about us. We'll get him for you Abbot Lin!" one of his followers, a burly man with a shaved head, cried as he and a fair number of others took up shovels, picks, and boards.

"Yes!" another, a slender woman with a fierce expression, joined in. "We're not afraid of this kid!"

The genin prepared himself as they charged. They encircled the boy and attacked at once, swinging and clubbing, but as their improvised weapons struck they found only his coat as if it had just hovered there on its own, occupying his shape.

_Just a little Substitution Jutsu…well-timed I think too,_ thought Tomoki with a grin from where he stood only a few paces away.

The big, bald man looked up and ran towards him, swinging his shovel for all he was worth. "You won't fool me this time!" he bellowed. Tomoki pivoted away from the shovel's deadly, descending arc, and its iron head clanged as it broke off against the stone pavement. Tomoki coiled himself to strike, with eyes focused on the vital point below the man's ear, but stopped when he heard a horrifying sound rush towards him. Rolling away, the boy came to his feet in a ready crouch.

The ninja's eyes widened. Upon his assailant's head had alighted a strange sort of metal basket, flared outward at the open end and ringed inside and out with curved, saw-toothed blades. A short rod anchored to a metal boss sat at the top and had at its end a metal ring from which a long length of chain started.

Stunned at first, Tomoki leaped to free the man but it was too late. The chain snapped taut, spinning the basket, and taking it and the man's severed head back to its source.

Throughout the courtyard, gasps and screams echoed and the Abbot's followers fled in blind panic as their comrade's decapitated body collapsed to the ground.

Tomoki whirled towards the devilish weapon's owner. He was not merely big, as the hapless bald disciple had been, but a true giant - almost double Tomoki's height, broad of shoulder and with a powerful, hunched back. The man took up his basket and sniffed disdainfully with flaring nostrils set over a wide, bristly jaw and toothy under-bite.

"Heaven and Earth!" gasped Tomoki.

The Abbot's face reddened and he balled his pale fists. "Brother!" he screeched with rage. "Hsien, what have you done?"

Hsien only snorted as he took the head from its grizzly carriage and tossed it aside. "You have no right to speak to me like that, brother," he replied coolly. "After all, if you can't keep order in your own house then I guess it's up to me."

Tomoki paced forward. "I'm kind of impressed," he admitted venomously. "I've heard of but have never actually seen anyone who'd mastered the flying guillotine." He glanced towards the Abbott who stood almost paralyzed with shock. "Although, I'm a little confused too - is this what you meant by 'civilization'?"

"That's enough out of you," Hsien threatened. "As you can see, my brother is a very…delicate creature and you've upset him."

"I don't suppose a simple apology will do?" the ninja inquired sardonically then observed: "you know, for brothers, you look nothing at all alike."

Hsien guffawed, not a merry sound but one cultivated over a lifetime spent enjoying the suffering of others. "Little fellow," he announced. "You must have given up all hope of living."


	3. Revelations

**Part 3: Revelations**

The Abbot's brother pulled back his terrifying weapon and sent it hurtling forth. Tomoki jumped aside, feeling a shock of pain as it passed. Hsien looped the chain suddenly with a flick of his thick wrist and the genin had to duck and roll away just in time to escape before the rattling chain closed around where his neck had been with bone-snapping force. Grunting with effort, the giant pulled the guillotine back to him then hurled it again. Once more Tomoki dodged and the weapon ripped into the stack of lumber just behind him, sending splinters and sawdust flying before it again returned to its master's hand.

Hsien chortled malevolently then ran his finger along one the flying guillotine's well-worn blades. He looked appreciatively at the boy's blood, rubbed a little between thumb and forefinger then tasted it with a critical expression on his face as if to judge it's vintage. "You're a nimble little rodent; I'll give you that!" he said then wiped his red-stained hand absently on his buckled vest.

Tomoki winced and spared a quick look at the wound in his side – seeping crimson amidst a tattered swath through his shirt and vest. Gritting his teeth, the young ninja drew his swords. "And you're ugly enough to make a train back up and take a dirt road," he shouted defiantly back. "I'll give you that!"

The man snarled, baring his lower teeth, then leaped into the air. Higher and higher his unworldly strength carried him until he descended in an arc right towards his astonished prey. With his reflexes and timing honed by years of dedicated training at the Leaf Village's academy Tomoki jumped back as Hsien landed, ducked under then jumped over broad, lethal sweeps of his imposing adversary's flying guillotine which Hsien wielded easily in one monstrous hand.

The beast of a man swung again but Tomoki was ready. He let it pass then closed quickly and slashed. Even as he rushed past after the follow-through, out of range of any riposte, the boy knew he hadn't done much. If Hsien's torso had been a rolled-up, soaked, tatami mat like the ones Tomoki often used for practice then the killer would have been cut cleanly in two; but his blade had only slid along the man's hide-like skin which was as tough as cured leather.

Hsien rose up proudly and raised his arms across his wide chest to appraise the damage. A long, red cut bled at his waist but it was little more than a superficial injury. "You'll have to do much better than that, little rodent!" the giant taunted then fed out a length of chain and started to swing the guillotine over his head, around and around, until it was almost solid-looking blur of motion.

Tomoki scowled, backpedaled as Hsien came forward then leaped away when the monster of a man charged. The genin landed on a palette of brick which blew out from under him as the guillotine's spinning blades exploded into it. He rushed at the giant, seeking to cut him before he could recover his weapon but was forced to dodge once again as Hsien brought his guillotine back, shortened his grip on its chain and whirled it before him in a tight figure-eight.

When Hsien lashed again Tomoki stood his ground and battered the bladed basket aside with both swords then charged. The giant spun, weathering the boy's attacks with his broad back, then whipped across with his long, massive arm that caught Tomoki hard across the chest. The ninja grunted hard from the impact and flew back, landed flat, then back-rolled his legs over his shoulders just in time to avoid Hsien's crippling downward blow.

Dazedly the boy retreated and took cover behind a stack of boards which tore to splinters under Hsien's onslaught then jumped up and waited in a crouch atop a pyramid of sacks. Hsien whirled his flying guillotine with both hands, the dreadful, metal contraption whooshing as it spun through the air, and let it fly but again his elusive prey rolled away and its blades cleaved instead through the sacks' canvas and sent blinding billows of white dust exploding into the air.

Hsien coughed and spat as he came forward with his weapon raised to strike but found no one. Slowly, methodically, he stalked half-blinded through the stacks of material, lashing out again and again with his guillotine only to find that he'd struck a trash can, discarded cement bag, or some piece of equipment. The giant's eyes narrowed, darting left and right, as they chased phantoms through the haze.

Hsien hissed his frustration then sniffed and a dreadful smile creased his porcine face. He rushed at once towards a short stack of barrels. "It's no good, little rodent," he growled. "That was a good trick using your ninja's jutsu but even with all this cement in the air, I can still smell you out!" He leaped and spun suddenly atop the barrels and swung down behind them but still found nothing there except a few tell-tale drops of blood where Tomoki had been.

"What?" the giant gasped in disbelief then roared with surprise at the staccato impacts at his neck and temple. He jumped down, shook himself and saw shuriken fall at his feet. Frowning glumly, the giant raised his fingers to his wounds then looked at the spots of blood on his fingertips. "You fight dirty, boy," he offered begrudgingly. "I admire that about you…if nothing else."

"Thanks," replied Tomoki loudly through the dusty haze, taking Hsien by surprise.

Hsien whirled around with a furious swipe then flinched at the barrage of throwing stars whose trajectories sought his vulnerable eyes. They whirred past his ears, caromed off his bony forehead and stuck into the less calloused parts of his neck, cheek and shoulders. His thick skin had again saved him from too much damage but the realization of the danger he faced settled over the giant and he cowered with his arm clenched protectively over his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the boy's voice offered icily. "I guess this isn't fun for you anymore, is it?" Hsien turned blindly toward the voice then again at a sound behind him. "I'm willing to bet that people have been afraid of you for a long time and that the bald guy wasn't the first man you've killed."

In mounting desperation, Hsien swung his guillotine then tried to whirl it but the weapon caught against a stockpile of metal pipes and tumbled out of control with a clanging percussive jangle. The giant gasped, choking in the cement-laden air, then squealed in shock as Tomoki's swords struck twice into his back like a matador at a bullfight.

"Brother!" Hsien cried out in naked desperation. "Help me, please! The little rodent's going to kill meeeeeeeee!"

As if in response, a wind rose just then and the dust began to clear. Feeling its relief, Hsien squinted his eyes and stumbled his way through the departing clouds until he stood out in the open.

There Tomoki awaited him, his skin and clothes caked in white - a ghostly vision against the towering black of the great bell.

Hsien glared with bestial rage, stamped his feet and bared his teeth.

"Wait!" Lin cried and rushed between the two. The sense of calm he'd always exuded was gone, replaced with frantic distress, a mantle of desperation. His expression twitched and his eyes darted. "Stop this, both of you," he shouted, arms flapping in consternation as he looked first toward his brother and then at Tomoki. "Hasn't there been enough bloodshed here? Hsien, put down your weapon; as your brother, I beg you. And you, Tomoki, you've brought this - this misery to my house; is this what you were taught?"

The ninja raised an eyebrow. "For whatever I might have done wrong," the boy offered, "I apologize." But then he shook his head and said: "But your brother is a _killer_, Abbot Lin. He killed a man right in front of us and I don't see how you can just ignore that."

"He didn't mean it!" crowed Lin, who pointed angrily at Tomoki with his face flushing red. "It was only because you were beating up my disciples that Hsien felt he had to intervene."

Hsien snorted with haughty, cruel laughter then shouted at him, "Fool! I don't need you to make excuses for me!"

Tomoki winced then replied to the Abbot, "That's a pretty poor excuse. Are you sure you're going to stand by that, _holy man?"_

"Shut up, rodent!" screamed Hsien as he surged forward, knocking Lin from his path with a great sweep of his tree-trunk arm, then hurled his guillotine with all his might. The weapon sped towards Tomoki, blades spinning; the ninja grimaced as he sidestepped from its deadly path just barely and leaped forward, slashing with both swords. Hsien, unable to pull the guillotine back in time, stretched the chain out taut between his hands and blocked both, then gathered up a length of it and swung it hard enough to crack the stone pavement. Having dodged to the inside, Tomoki sprang and kicked Hsien flush in the face. The giant staggered back, blood pouring from his nose, and jerked back hard on his weapon's chain.

The guillotine snapped back at once, catching the boy ninja in the back with its metal top. Tomoki sputtered in surprise and spun away to regroup while Hsien licked his lips and stormed forward after him.

Falling before his attacks, Tomoki retreated, half-stumbling, until he found himself trapped with his back flat against the cold iron wall of the great bell. Hsien swung down at the boy's skull; blood and rage filling his wild eyes. The ninja managed to block with both blades crossed like scissors but was buckled to his knees by the force. The steel of his swords creaked against the teeth of the giant's guillotine.

"You'll pay for cutting me," Hsien growled with satisfaction. "But on second thought, never mind, the extra satisfaction I'll get from killing you will make you taste that much better!"

Tomoki, who knelt there trapped, pinned by Hsien's monstrous strength, with sweat beading on his face and his muscles quivering like bowstrings, gasped as he replied: "What? Are you r-really going to _eat_ me?"

"Of course!" the giant clarified, "even though you're probably all bones and gristle; it's been DAYS since I had a decent feast."

"Great," opined Tomoki acidly as the desperation of his predicament mounted. "B-but aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"

"Not at all," retorted Hsien who leaned in closer, pressed even harder. "I know that expression 'not to dig the grave before the body lies' but in this case your death is…now!" The giant pivoted suddenly, drawing back and putting all his force into his free hand that rocketed towards Tomoki's chest with fingers tensed into a claw. Frozen for a moment with fear, Tomoki shut his eyes before the plan he'd developed carried him on. He abandoned his swords all at once and flung himself aside an instant before the fatal blow - a crushing force that carried instead into the thick walls of the great bell!

A deep, dull, clang echoed from the impact. Hsien's face contorted with pain as he dropped his weapon and drew back his broken hand to cradle it with the other.

Inwardly, Tomoki wailed his disappointment. He'd harbored high-hopes that the giant's terrible strength would be enough at least to put a crack in Naruto's prison if not a hole!

In any case, knowing Hsien would not be frozen for long, the ninja rolled sideways, collected his blades as he went then spun on his back in a tight circle, lashing out at the last moment to slice his distracted adversary across the Achilles tendon. The beast of a man squealed and dropped like a stone while Tomoki rolled away then rose to recover and gather his breath.

Abbot Lin rushed at once to his brother's side, knelt and tenderly took his hand.

The conquered giant looked up at him then at Tomoki and offered a mocking laugh. "You are a vicious little rodent aren't you – dangerous when cornered," he stated. "It serves me right – losing to a runt like you."

The boy brushed at the coat of cement powder on his clothes and sheathed his weapons. "And you aren't exactly human," Tomoki stated flatly as he panted for breath. His eyes of unassuming brown roved back and forth between the two brothers, "Either of you."

At this, Hsien's mirth waned into an appreciative snicker until the pain from his hand and ankle put an end to it. "Listen to that, brother," he rasped, "the little rodent's got a brain."

"Quiet!" Lin remonstrated, almost in tears at his brother's state. "It didn't have to come to this," he said then turned toward Tomoki. "You monster, look what you've done!"

Before the genin could answer, Lin flew at him. His long-legged kicks snapped for Tomoki's head, ribs and knees; bony wrists flailed at his jaw and temples and sharp strikes with all his fingers gathered into points darted toward his eyes. Surprised by his rage, the genin circled away, raised his fists and hunched his back in a protective posture while he gathered his wits.

When Tomoki struck back he struck furiously, hammering at the Abbot's arms and legs as he blocked them. He smashed down Lin's high kick with both forearms, hooked him behind the ankle with his foot to pull him off-balance, then whisked a sword out and whirled the razor point up under the Abbot's chin. The white-haired boy stopped dead then fell back unceremoniously on his butt as Tomoki prodded him.

"Do you know something?" Tomoki snarled. "I thought there were all kinds of freaks and weirdoes where I come from but I was wrong. I hadn't been here yet!" The leaf-ninja gestured at the prostrate giant. "Hsien here wants to gnaw on my shanks, and you, Abbot Lin, call this killer your brother and _me_ the monster! You two win the prize!" He glared now at the Abbot. "But you're way worse than him, Lin, because I _believed_ you and all that stuff you said about civilization. What a joke!

"I don't know what kind of asylum you're running here but I want no part of it or either of you! Now, if you'd be so kind as to release my friend, I'll be on my way. Oh, yeah, and if I get any more grief, I'm going to start chopping pieces off both of you. So what's it going to be?"

Hsien gave forth with a derisive chortle from where he lay. "Humans always like to talk tough when they think they have the upper hand," he croaked.

This threw Tomoki for a moment before he sensed another presence coming near. _Oh, right,_ he realized to his chagrin, _Lin's sister, Inakaya._

"Hello, boys," a woman's throaty, confident voice crooned. Tomoki winced as he turned toward the spear-armed newcomer and braced himself. Inakaya was tall and lithe with skin as dark as jet and bright, golden eyes that burned from a savage face. A mane of sand and coal-colored hair flowed over her shoulders, down her back and over her black and red satin jacket. She moved with an athletic grace that was almost beyond description. "Looks like fun; can I play?" she purred, revealing a horrible, fanged smile.

Tomoki swallowed hard and hung his head. "Look…all I want is my friend back," he stated tiredly, hardly in the mood or the shape for another fight, then pleaded with the Abbot: "Is that really too much to ask?"

"It is!" hissed Abbot Lin through clenched teeth. "Your friend is accursed! You are simply too stupid and selfish to see that your need to have your friend back must come second to the world's need to be free of the demon that inhabits him!"

Tomoki stared at Lin. Seeing him now, obstinate, ignorant and red-faced, he wondered how he ever thought of him as a friend. "You don't know what you're talking about," argued the genin. "All you've done is sentence Naruto to die without knowing the first thing about him!"

"Stop this, Tomoki!" spat Lin. "You're acting like a child."

"Look who's talking," the ninja sneered nastily, "about acting." Tomoki wet his lips and his brow beetled as he wondered how in the world he could find himself in a situation like this. "Anyway, have it your way," growled the boy who cursed then turned toward Inakaya as he stepped back into a unicorn stance with swords held ready. "Come on, let's get this over with."

"Mmm, spry and scrappy," observed Inakaya approvingly. "I like that. Let's fight a little bit. That way, your blood will be hot when I kill you."

Tomoki looked the terrifying woman over again certain that, much like her big brother, she had a similarly cannibalistic taste for human flesh. Inakaya hiked her spear - a slender, tapered shaft that was tufted around its bladed, metal point with red-dyed horsehair, then settled back.

In a blur of motion, Lin's sister rushed forward. Tomoki's eyes widened as the point flashed by his face in a red streak. He warded frantically with his swords and still had to weave madly to avoid the piercing steel. As the boy retreated she chased, pumping the blade of her spear high and low in an unstoppable rhythm. Cuts appeared from nowhere on his arms and legs until he blocked the spear soundly with the edges of his swords, pivoted sharply and kicked Inakaya hard in the midsection.

Hsien's equally-bestial sibling let out a breath and spun away, whirling her spear around to cover her retreat. Tomoki came after her, hunting for an opening until she planted herself, ready to strike, and the boy wisely declined to test her.

She looked at him slyly and stepped away, pacing at leisure. "'Cause you defeated big-brother, I'm guessing you're kinda clever."

Tomoki's eyes flickered toward the great bell then settled back on her as he grit his teeth and tried to ignore his wounds; he'd been very fortunate. Hsien had been far stronger but she was far faster.

"Not talking anymore?" the fearsome woman inquired cheerily then added, "Aww, come on." She gave up after a few moments. "Silly…you should enjoy life, 'cause it's not going to last much longer."

The boy followed her with his eyes. Though the young ninja's expression was cold, he thought furiously. He wanted desperately to use his jutsu but knew Inakaya was only teasing him with her apparent inattention and if he were to begin a hand seal she would spring and impale him in an instant.

"Hmm," Inakaya muttered as she twirled her spear around and around her body with practiced elegance. "You are kinda clever I suppose but it won't save you." She crouched then sprang, flying over the distance, and Tomoki felt the tip of her spear slash his cheek even through his ready guard. The woman thrust again and the genin blocked then skipped away as the woman stabbed at his feet leaving gouges in the stone.

Relentless, Lin's unlikely sister grinned and her eyes glowed with reflected sunlight as she attacked again, low then high, then shot in close and swept the back end of her spear at Tomoki's knees. The genin jumped up and felt spear whip just under the soles of his boots, then landed and cut down at the woman's neck with both blades. Inakaya hissed and struck the incoming blades aside with the returning butt end of her spear, rolling away as Tomoki spun completely around and slashed.

The genin followed her close behind, stretched his arm and cut her across the back but his impatient overextension cost him. Seizing the opening, Inakaya pivoted sharply and struck him in the chin with the end of her spear, stunning him for a moment and knocking him back. She then arched backwards, bridging on the top of her head and thrusting her spear back into the boy's trailing leg.

Tomoki cried out and hobbled away, warding as the fierce woman twisted out of her posture and stalked after him. Blood poured from his thigh like water from a faucet, ran down his leg and left a trail over the paving stones. Inakaya's expression widened with unrepressed glee as she pressed the attack, certain of victory, slashing and pumping the point of her spear at her wounded prey.

The genin's blades whirled, only slower and slower as he fatigued, until at last his wounded leg failed and he stumbled to one knee. Inakaya growled appreciatively and lunged, pistoning her spear forward in a perfect, fatal strike. Using more strength then technique, Tomoki tried to deflect the weapon with his left sword but the weapon wobbled then fell from his hand and he whirled the right around his head to assist. The spear slid hard and fast along the edge - close enough for the horse-hair tassel to tickle the boy's neck as it went by. The shaft followed, and a thin ribbon of wood shavings peeled away from it. Seeing one last, desperate chance, Tomoki wrapped his arm around the spear and pinned it tightly into his armpit so Inakaya could not pull it back then slashed straight down the shaft, using it as a guide. The fearsome woman gasped and, rather than losing fingers, wisely let go and stood back to glare at the boy with venom in her eyes.

Tomoki struggled to rise then met her glare, his sword in one hand and her spear in the other.

"Do you think that's the end of it?" Inakaya roared and sprang at him, catching him off-balance. She clutched her arms and legs around him; talons dug into his back and her fangs tore at his throat. Tomoki screamed and thrashed wildly as he tried to throw her off; his useless weapons dropped from his flailing grasp. The boy covered up the best he could, freed a hand, worked it up towards the wild woman's face and jammed his thumb hard in her eye but not before she'd taken a bite out of it.

Inakaya dropped off him and staggered away, blinded momentarily, then gathered herself and leaped again. As she flew at him, Tomoki crouched, grabbed one of his swords then threw himself flat to the ground. He gasped and shut his eyes when his back smacked hard against the stone then shouted as he slashed across with the last of his strength. The blade slowed slightly as it pulled through flesh and a hot spray exploded over the genin's face and chest.

Tomoki lay there, barely moving, though he knew he shouldn't. For all he knew, Inakaya could pounce on him at any moment. _Move, ninja, move!_ he shouted at himself. The boy's arm twitched, then his leg until he finally rolled himself over and looked up.

Inakaya, who sat a few paces away, looked back pale and dazed. She sat on her knees with both arms hugged tightly around the gory, exposed contents of her abdomen. Blood poured in rivers through her fingers and pooled around her legs. Tomoki stared, stricken by the sight of her blank expression, then turned away as she lurched then slumped over.

Desperately wounded himself, spent, tired and angry, and yet still no closer to freeing Naruto, who was still a prisoner trapped beneath that horrible bell, the boy pushed himself into a crouch then slowly rose to his feet, recovered his other sword, wiped both clean and sheathed them.

Abbot Lin stared in blank shock at his fallen sister and then again at his wounded and prostrate brother. His shoulders shook as he choked with tears. "Look…" he gasped raggedly and gestured at them. "Look at what you've done."

Tomoki was too tired to speak. After a few ragged breaths, he cleared his throat then rasped accusingly, "This is YOUR fault." He blinked then rubbed his cheek. "There's no one to blame but yourself!"

"Brother," Lin sobbed in disconsolation, "sister."

Tomoki watched as the Abbot fell to his knees, wracked with grief, and he couldn't help but feel the same way. _This is not my path,_ he said to himself, but the words seemed empty. After all, he was the one drenched in blood. The young ninja swayed dizzily for a moment then sank down and sat on the ground.

Knowing what he had to do, Tomoki gathered his breath and calmed himself in preparation then his fingers came together as he summoned the power of his chakra. The boy felt a blaze of heat and stabbing pains as his wounds closed and seamed together: the gash across his midsection and cracked rib, the great bloody stab in his leg, bitten neck, hand and shoulder, and so many other cuts and scrapes that he'd lost track of them. The effort of his jutsu made him shudder.

_How has it come to this?_ Tomoki wondered. _Was there really no other way?_ The boy let his head fall and stared at Abbot Lin, who knelt paralyzed with grief, and then again at the great, black bell which stood unmoved and unaffected by anything that had transpired.

As he studied the bell it seemed to him that it stared back, resolute and adamantine, determined and implacable even if war raged all around it. In perfect peace this enemy could dwell as the ages rolled by…long, long after Tomoki and Naruto had left this earth.

Healed now but drained, Tomoki daydreamed. When he'd vowed to find Naruto, had he really considered the lengths he was willing to go to or the depths to which he was willing to descend? What would Naruto himself think? How many deaths would he accept as a reasonable price for his emancipation?

A strange song woke him with a start. While he'd lain there, Abbot Lin had calmed himself then pulled in his legs to sit in a cross-legged lotus posture. One hand touched the ground while the other rose toward the sky as he sang - a single, resonant note, base and constant that emanated from deep within him. The Abbot's voice vibrated through the ninja, up the bones of his arms and legs and through his rib cage. His teeth rattled and Tomoki struggled to regain a measure of focus but, as he watched, frozen in place by Abbot Lin's utterance, his eyes widened with shock as Inakaya's exposed innards crept together and drew back inside her. The swollen, bruised and broken mass of Hsien's shattered hand reformed whole as did the deep, crippling cut at the back of his ankle. In a matter of moments both Hsien and Inakaya rose up wholly restored and smiling with anticipation.

Tomoki sat up, stood, looked back and forth between the two of them and then at the Abbot. "That hardly seems fair," he remarked but the fight was already rejoined.

The world whirled around him in a blur of Inakaya's blindingly-fast spear thrusts and the ripping blades of Hsien's flying guillotine.

Behind it all the Abbot's words rang out, unheard and unacknowledged: "Stop it, all of you! Have you learned nothing?"

Tomoki dodged and parried desperately against the two foes who denied him even the flicker of a second he'd need to draw his swords. Exhausted, the ninja leaped one way, then another, then broke for cover.

"Don't lose sight of him!" rumbled Hsien who tried to snare Tomoki with his chain as he ran for the stockpiles. "He's tricky!"

"You're telling me?" his sister protested then reassured, "Don't worry, I've got him!" she said as she followed close on the heels of her quarry. She chased Tomoki over a mound of sand then around the pile of sacks that had been torn open earlier by Hsien's guillotine.

Hsien circled to head the genin off, coming around a pyramid of barrels and then a palette of bricks. He licked his lips and raised his weapon to strike as he cut back toward Inakaya with Tomoki trapped between them.

At last their paths converged and the two almost collided but the siblings stopped short and looked at each other in shock…because their prey was nowhere to be found.

Hsien's expression blanked then scowled. "What happened?" he demanded to know, squealing: "Where is he? How did you let him escape!"

Inakaya bridled and rose to her brother's anger. "Me?" she hissed indignantly. "Where were you! You're the one who screwed up!"

The Abbot's big brother whirled around, trying to look everywhere at once, while his sister did the same. "Never mind!" he shouted. "Just find him, now!"

"There he is, brother!" cried Inakaya, and her finger shot forward as she pointed. "Up on those boxes!"

Hsien ceased his search, snarled and cocked his weapon back to fling.

Right before the courtyard's scaffold-covered wall, up upon a banded stack of boxes, stood Tomoki whose fingers flew as he made hand signs. He concentrated for a moment then said to himself, "Ninja art: Iron Vest Jutsu."

Inakaya's spear flew through the air like a red streak, struck squarely into Tomoki's chest…shuddered, bowed then bounced off. Hsien's guillotine followed close behind but the ninja battered it aside with a strike from both forearms which sent the spinning, bladed weapon clattering inertly to the ground. The boy's lips pulled back into a determined grimace.

"I should have thought of this before!" he announced, gathered his strength and again made hand signs. "Hup…hum…hee…hah," he began, the resonances of his notes stimulating his organs in sequence: liver, kidney, heart and lungs, and made his chakra flow.

Abbot Lin, appalled and rendered silent by ensuing violence, paled and stepped forward, pleading: "No, Tomoki, please don't!"

The last word the ninja uttered was unheard, a tone that surpassed hearing as he completed his jutsu – the Spirit Cannon before which no other jutsu, spirit or spell could stand. Reality itself seemed to split as the shockwave went forth through his adversaries, washed over the courtyard walls but broke upon the great bell's iron shore. Tomoki swayed from the effort, leaned over and braced himself on his knees.

When he looked up through his bleary vision, the ninja saw what his jutsu had revealed - the Abbot and his sibling's true forms. Where Hsien had stood, his clothing and the tail end of the chain for his horrific weapon lay abandoned. In his place stood a massive beast – a demonic boar with curved, razor tusks that stuck from a drooling, fang-filled snout. Instead of a woman, in Inakaya was found a leopard, long-limbed, with great, clover-leaf paws that bristled with hooked claws. In place of Abbot Lin stood a crane, as tall as a man, with long legs, broad, white wings and pointed, ivory bill.

"So…this is what it is," Tomoki muttered to himself and swallowed. "This place…the Shining Summit Monastery has been overtaken by animal-spirits."

The demon boar thrashed and grunted, charged then leaped into the air. Tomoki came to his senses and sidestepped but not enough and the blow sent him flying. If not for the lingering powers of his iron vest, the beast's tusks would have torn him completely open. Grimacing in paint, the ninja twisted in mid-air, grabbed the scaffold and swung himself onto its uncertain, planked floor while the boar's momentum carried it crashing through the scaffold's scant construction and into the stone wall behind it.

The boy heard and felt the thud of its impact and watched for a moment as the boar shrugged away the effects. He bolted then down the scaffold but was cut off by the horrible leopard that was Inakaya. The creature howled and leaped with claws outstretched and fangs bared. Tomoki dropped to his back and kicked up at the last moment as he tried to throw the beast over him but she was too nimble; the monstrous cat twisted and came after him, clawing and biting.

Overwhelmed by the creature's ferocity, the boy threw himself to the side, over the edge of the scaffold and dropped down to the platform below but Inakaya jumped all the way to the ground then sprang right back at Tomoki who ran from the beast, grabbed a column and tried to vault up to the next level.

Teeth seized his trailing leg, and Tomoki cried out in anguish as claws raked his skin. "Get away!" the genin screamed as he hung from the scaffold's framework and kicked furiously at the leopard-monster's nose and eyes. After repeated stomps, beast released him and dropped agilely to the ground, leaving the boy gasping and bleeding from slashed legs. He hobbled desperately along the bouncing platform then looked up in shock as the scaffold on which he stood started to collapse in a great, rolling wave that raced toward him; he saw then through the planks that the demon boar was just below him, lashing left and right at the supports with its razor tusks.

Quickly Tomoki made his hand signs just before the floor fell out from under him.

He reappeared that instant from a shadow inside one of the courtyard's pagodas, surprising alarmed disciples who'd stayed to watch the fight despite their Abbot's command to depart. They fell back and some fled in outright terror as the genin lurched forward out of the darkness.

One of them, a middle-aged man with a long, thin moustache quaked in his blue and plum robes as he asked: "W-what's going on? Are those…b-beasts really Lin and his family?"

"Uncle, what are you saying!" his younger counterpart interrupted. "Don't be so stupid! This kid's some kind of evil sorcerer who's used his powers on our beloved Abbot, Brother Hsien and Sister Inakaya!" Tomoki's glassy eyes rolled between the two as the younger guard continued, "But you'll be sorry! Just look at you," he snapped contemptuously, "you won't last ten more minutes!"

A loud, frightening howl cut short any further conversation as a huge, feline shape materialized at the door. Instinctively Tomoki flung himself out the other as Inakaya slashed her way through her brother's followers like wheat before the thresher. The leaf-ninja stumbled forward out onto the high walkway that ringed the courtyard of the great bell blinded by the sun and didn't hear the charging hooves or the snort of the demon-boar's breath until it was too late.

A force like a train smashed across his middle and launched him into the air. Tomoki rolled end-over-end then head-over-heels as the momentum carried him sprawling down the walkway. Once he'd finally come to a stop the boy braced his quaking hands on the parapet and heaved himself up with a stricken groan. Over the top of the guard-wall he could see through his blurring vision the vast mountain vistas beyond as well as the sheer drop down rocky slopes and scraggily, unforgiving trees and undergrowth.

Turning to flee, he stumbled straight into Inakaya who had regained her human-like form. Abbot Lin's sister slapped his face but Tomoki could feel her unseen claws slice though his cheek down to the teeth and bone. The impact swung him around into Hsien who also appeared human…or as human as he had been.

Huge, hard and merciless fists rained down and pounded the genin to the floor. Dazed and bleeding he looked up into Hsien's contemptuous leer. The man-beast seized the fallen Tomoki by his vest and pulled him up high off the ground so he could look into his face.

"Brother!" Abbot Lin shouted from down below. "Don't hurt him anymore! He's beaten…just let him go!"

Tomoki saw Hsien's cruel eyes swivel toward his panic-stricken brother then back to him. "I'm not going to hurt you," he explained in a whisper pregnant with evil then turned towards the parapet beyond which the mountainside plunged. "I'll let the ground do that. Yes, I'll let you molder down there a couple of days until you're nice and ripe." With that, Hsien shifted his vice-like grips to Tomoki's upper arm and thigh then hoisted the young ninja high overhead.

"STOP!" Lin's ragged, desperate shriek pierced the air.

The boy felt the shift as Hsien's massive arms cocked his body back behind his shoulders and then the sudden _rush_ of acceleration as he was flung spinning into space. Air whistled in his ears which popped a little from the sudden pressure change. The rushing wind felt cool against the wet, oppressive heat of his wounds. The sensation of falling was almost peaceful.


	4. Meet Me in Heaven

**Part 4: Meet Me in Heaven**

Across the infinite nothingness of oblivion distant voices boomed with the defining sounds of his own name. "Tomoki," they cried over and over in asynchronous harmony. Some ached with concern while others rattled with harsh demand, "_Tomoki_…TOMOKI!" The boy's lustrous, brown eyes cracked open and his blurred vision resolved into a field of bright orange stars that blazed against the backdrop of night. _No, that's not right,_ he thought, and as Tomoki blinked now saw the branches not more than a hand's width from his head, covered with dense, blue needles through which gleamed the still-bright light of early evening.

As he began to wriggle his small body to life amidst a carpet of dry earth and brown, crunchy needles and slowly moved a hand to his shaggy-haired head he finally realized where he was - under a spruce tree in the conical hollow around the base of its trunk and completely hidden from sight by its shroud of enveloping, evergreen branches.

The voices called again, this time from very close by. "Tomoki!" they rang and their familiarity seized him. "Come on, Tomoki! Cut it out; you WIN already!"

Tomoki peered through the gaps in his concealment at the children who hunted for him. Though it seemed exceedingly strange to find himself back here all of a sudden it also felt right. The boy slipped from his hiding place into the meadow's wild grass and approached the little girl with tangles of straw-colored hair who'd just passed. He reached _up_ for her shoulder slowly as if she might evaporate before his touch and was surprised when she didn't.

She was more surprised by far. The girl piped a shrill scream and jumped forward. She then whirled around, stamped her foot and glared down at him furiously. "That's NOT funny, Tomoki!" she yelled.

Most of the other girls agreed but all the other boys did not and fell at once into hoots of breathless laughter.

"Keiko?" muttered Tomoki with disbelief as the sight of her tan, scratched face and light-colored eyes flooded him with memories. "It can't be you, you're -," he stopped himself, unable to voice the thought, _dead…for a long time now._

Tenanted by anger, she hadn't heard him and came at the brown-haired boy with a vengeance. Keiko's wildly-flailing fists and slaps hammered his lean chest, bony arms and the top of his head to everyone's raucous delight. Though the force of her blows felt nothing at all like the bone-shattering, organ-rupturing wrecking-balls of Esmeralda-sensei's lightest tap, Tomoki fell helplessly before her onslaught until a much stronger arm pulled him into a headlock.

Dimly the boy could recall several ways to escape this hold – age-old techniques with evocative names like 'fisherman hooks a golden carp', 'cicada sheds its shell', and 'monkey steals peaches' but there was no need for any of that. There was no danger here and in fact his futile struggle against that arm's grip felt like the most appropriate and natural thing in the world! "Ow!" Tomoki cried instead. "Quit it!" he demanded and the arm released.

The older boy who'd held him looked down at him now with a goofy smile. "Tomoki!" he cheered then grabbed and shook him by the shoulders; the forgotten sound of his brother's laughter almost brought him to tears. "That was awesome! When did you get so good at sneaking?"

Words flooded Tomoki's mind but all that came was: "Tadao?"

"Come on!" insisted Ryuichi who ran up and pushed into the both of them, "one more time!" He turned his cross, freckled face toward Tomoki and pointed. "You're seeking! We coulda played three more times if we didn't have to look for you."

Tomoki's brother whacked the boy on the chest smartly with the back of his hand. "Well then you shoulda found him sooner," he countered and Tomoki thrilled at hearing his older brother champion him.

The insistent demands for another game went up as the children all gathered around Tomoki who brushed back his tangles of wavy, brown hair, giggled, shut his glittering eyes then clasped both hands over them. "One-hundred!" he began emphatically and at once heard the rush of scattering feet. "Ninety-nine…ninety-eight…ninety-sev-," a piercing, stricken cry cut him short and the youngster dropped his hands then looked to see.

This was no surprise. Yasue, who was Okahito's little cousin, had gotten hurt again. The tiny little girl sat there in the tall grass, her face red and swollen with tears, and her smooth, chubby arms and small hands held up at her sides.

Her cousin tried to console her. "Come on, cuz, you're alright," cooed Okahito. "You just fell down that's all."

She looked back with her eyes big and watering, and quivered, unable to speak.

Ryuichi, still headed away and searching for a place to hide, shouted, "No fair, Tomoki, you're looking!" Other voices parroted his concern.

Okahito turned towards Tomoki. "Hey, Tomoki, wouldja start over?" he bridled defensively. "We need more time; Yasue fell again."

Tomoki's brow narrowed as he looked closer into the little girl's face. "I think it's more than that," he said with a tone he wouldn't have for many years yet.

His friend looked at him in surprise then moved toward Yasue but she shook her head and whimpered so he backed away. The two boys, keeping their distance now, moved around her and were soon joined by half a dozen of the others who'd been drawn by curiosity. All together they saw the four star-thistles that stuck from the poor girl's back, grimaced then flinched away in full appreciation of how much that had to hurt.

The needles of the star-thistle grew long and brittle, yet passed effortlessly though skin and clothing. They'd all been warned that any attempt to pull the thistle off would break the needles in the skin and make them impossible to remove.

Faces went deadly serious. This was clearly a matter for an adult but it was always hard to call times like these to an end.

"It's getting dark anyway," offered Tadao with what Tomoki recognized as tact, then announced unapologetically, "Me and Tomoki got to get home." There were the usual arguments but all the fun had gone. Yasue was hurt and Okahito had to attend to her and so the objections turned after a few moments into reluctant consent.

Tomoki fell alongside his brother, bound by force of habit, and at last took a good look around. Fields of green and tan grass spread around him, punctuated by the vibrant yellows, purples and whites of wildflowers, and clusters of trees beyond which rounded mountains rolled lit by the setting sun. He was home again…at Chi-ling Mountain. The boy wet his lips uncertainly as he followed the gang of kids he all knew – some were close friends, cousins and other relatives, others just always seemed to be there whenever he was.

His eyes fixed on Tadao's confident profile, hardly believing he could be back here again, and not believing at all how many things he'd forgotten about his only brother – the familiarity of his shape, his voice, his scent and the little details of his face. _How could I just forget?_ mused Tomoki guiltily.

Tadao looked again at Yasue, who sniffled and shook as she trudged up the slope with those horrible thistles in her back, and his expression melted with sympathy. They all orbited around Okahito and his baby cousin as if their proximity would help though none would dare touch her for fear of making matters worse.

Binya and Sumio congratulated Tomoki at scaring Keiko so thoroughly and he grinned shyly.

After a few moments they'd reached the break in the fieldstone wall and crossed over to the road that lead into the village. Tomoki reeled at the sight of its decidedly unimpressive gatehouse and the scant, low ramparts over which shingle or tiled gables peeked.

He'd seen those walls before with great gaping rents in them and curtains of fire rising up behind, people fleeing in terror and columns of thick, black smoke twisting up into a pitiless sky. _No,_ Tomoki thought and shook his head to clear the vision, _this is before that; before that horrible witch..._ His eyes, sparkling and brown, looked up in thought. _Huh…what was her name?_ Try as he might to recall it, and he really felt like he should know this, it would not come.

"Hurry up," Tadao urged impatiently at which Tomoki readily complied. "We'll really be in trouble if we're late again; believe it!"

"What?" Tomoki's expression blanked as he stumbled. "What did you say?"

His brother looked at him askance. "We are go-ing to get in troub-le if we're late again," he repeated brusquely, "you'd bet-ter be-lieve it."

"Oh," the boy muttered in reply.

Tadao appraised him then asked, "You feeling ok?"

"Oh…uh, yeah…sure!" replied Tomoki unconvincingly as they passed inside and walked up the village's winding, stepped streets. Sights and sounds came at him like ghosts as its people passed like angels or devils. He felt the cobbles, hard under his worn, rope-soled sandals, smelled chimney smoke and the felt the closeness of the houses' walls of boards and bricks.

Where Merchant's Way crossed the East Gate Road, he stopped dead and turned to look. It had been on this spot where he'd first seen them. A monstrous hand of rock and earth had reached over the top of the wall then began to pull it down as if it were no more than children's blocks; other such hands had joined in until the wall was completely breeched and huge, terrible faces looked in on the tiny, defenseless town – faces with black cavities for eyes, stalagmite horns and stalactite teeth.

"Tomoki!" Tadao shouted in frustration. "Will you keep up!"

The boy hurried to join him where his brother was saying his farewells to the others and making plans then offered his consolations to Okahito and Yasue, telling her how brave she was and that she was going to be alright, all of which Tomoki quickly seconded.

At length when it had dwindled down to just the two brothers, Tadao turned to Tomoki and said, "You're sure acting weird…even more than usual."

The younger boy took the observation in stride. "I feel bad for Yasue."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I know what you mean," Tadao agreed. "She always gets hurt when she plays with us but she always comes back." The older boy noted his little brother's expression and threw an arm around his neck. "Don't worry about her. Okahito's a good guy and he'll look out for her."

Tomoki sniffed sadly. "It's not always enough," he stated. "Is it?"

His brother's brow furrowed seriously. "No Tomoki," he confessed. "Not all the time. That's why I get so mad when you wander off, trying to follow a bird or a cat or whatever dumb…never mind."

Tomoki sucked his lips as he remembered that he had indeed been quite the little escape artist. The whole village had been his playground and to him there'd never been any danger whether he was at the park, exploring a vacant building or just wandering about.

"You're a good guy too, Tadao," the boy confided, who wondered why he'd never said so before. "And I'm glad you're my brother…most of the time."

Tadao gave him a brief, skeptical glance then smiled and hugged him closer. "Me too, Tom-tom," he answered, "me too."

The pair ambled up and down their village's tight, maze-like avenues then turned into a courtyard where an army of fire-demons awaited them. The sight made Tomoki remember the night they came, when they'd descended upon this helpless settlement and set everything ablaze. He remembered the crumbling, soot-blackened walls, the fires licking hungrily through the gaping holes in rooftops, the streets filled with bodies and the air choked with embers and smoke.

They leered at Tomoki, the only one present who could see them, and their mouths widened into grins of blue flame against their bodies of flickering reds and oranges. _I used to know some words that would make them go away,_ he thought as he and his brother approached them, _but I don't need them anymore. This is way before they come here, and they can't come now unless I bring them._

"And I won't," the little boy muttered to himself and smiled, at which the demons evanesced as if they'd never been…and never would be.

The street lights pulsed twice and went on just then and up and down the street dark windows came alive.

"Hey!" exulted Tadao. "We got power tonight!" Tomoki shared his joy. Electric power was uncertain enough to be appreciated. It all had something to do with the scarcity of fuel, broken generators and various other things that escaped him. But this meant that his family would be in a good mood and they'd get to stay up long into the night and listen to music. Tadao turned to Tomoki suddenly, smiling his quick smile. "Race you!"

Tomoki's eyes widened then narrowed at the challenge and he shot past Tadao with all the speed he could muster. The generous head start he'd been given didn't last long and his brother soon streaked by him. _Awww,_ the boy groaned to himself, _I might as well be racing a horse!_

Tadao was waiting at the gate to their row house when Tomoki at last came into view, gasping and wheezing like a steam engine. "Come on! Move it, ya slug!" the elder cajoled with a loud laugh then swung open the gate, leaped up the short flight of stairs and vanished through the doorway.

Tomoki trudged up to the gate, bent over and leaned against its iron vinework, completely exhausted. Between his ragged breaths he could hear voices issue both from his past and from his house – Tadao's voice and those of their mother and father, aunt's and uncles, all of their friends and his friends as well.

He swallowed hard and looked up at the row house he remembered – two stories of boards and battens from which paint peeled and nail heads poked but it rose up now before him as a magnificent mansion. Light blazed through the slats of the shuttered windows and through their veil he could discern the shapes of people who he hadn't seen in a very long time.

The child stood for a moment, stunned at the sight, then pushed his way through the gate; its stiff spring closed it promptly behind him with a series of resonant carillon clangs. As he made his way up the stairs, Tomoki paused for a moment to cast one last, wistful look out toward the horizon and a whole other world he'd known once.

Eager to go inside, he reached out for the doorknob with a broad smile on his face but another hand caught his wrist before it could arrive. The child looked up in shock at the strange man, tall and pony-tailed, with a long, straight scar beneath both his eyes. He wore a grey vest covered with pockets over a deep blue shirt and fatigue pants. Around his forehead circled a headband that had a metal plate embossed with a curious design.

Tomoki stared at him open-mouthed. "Iruka-sensei?" he blurted at last as the name came back to him.

"Hello, Tomoki," the ninja greeted then got right to the point: "What are you doing here?"

The child's expression wriggled. "I…I have to be here," he tried to explain as if it should be obvious. "This is where I belong."

"Is it?" asked Iruka probingly.

The boy looked away disconcertedly then retorted with sulky suspicion, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I think you know."

Tomoki trembled at his words. "Please," he pleaded softly. "Don't make me go."  
The chunin looked down at him kindly with his dark eyes. "I can't _make you_ do anything," he explained. "I can only show you the path. The one you chose to walk is up to you."

"Please, Sensei," the boy begged now as tears welled then dribbled down his cheeks.

"Haven't you forgotten something." It was not a question.

The little boy's brown eyes wandered. "My obligations," Tomoki answered ruefully.

Iruka nodded charitably. "I see you _did_ learn something from me after all those years at the Academy; yes, Tomoki, your obligations."

"To who?" the boy barked with sudden anger and tore his arm away from the man's gentle grasp. "To you?"

His former teacher frowned with concern. "To me, I suppose," he agreed hesitantly, "to your country, your village…and to yourself too. But most of all…" He lingered and gathered his breath.

"Please, Sensei!" the boy shouted, desperate for him to stop.

"…to someone close to you."

Tomoki couldn't help himself but look as Iruka stretched his arm out towards the distance. His eyes followed it and, as the man's fingers unfurled, the child found himself flung high through the clouds, over mountaintops and across vast oceans and continents until he appeared at the gold and coral-red gates of the Shining Summit Monastery.

"Tomoki!" the muffled sound of Naruto's urgent voice awaited him there. "Hey! Tomoki!"

The ninja wandered, following the plea through empty courtyards, until he came at last to the one where the great bell towered. As Tomoki moved closer, his own dark reflection greeted him in its unassailable walls – a ghastly visage, bloody and beaten.

"Tomoki!" the familiar voice echoed again, cracking with relief. "All right! You finally found me just like I knew you would. Now get me out of here!"

The boy's eyes, lusterless again now and forevermore, shifted guiltily as he grimaced. "I can't, Naruto," he admitted finally then the genin's lips trembled and his eyes shimmered with tears as he mustered the effort to explain: "I'm dead."

He waited anxiously as long moments of silence passed.

"DEAD?" Naruto shouted back, startling him. "What, are you kidding me? What kind of lame excuse is THAT!"

"Please, Naruto," begged Tomoki as his insides turned to ice. "I tried! I did the best I could."

A small crack in the stone pavement shot from the base of the bell, branching and forking with a distinct 'snap' before it came to a stop.

"Yeah, yeah," growled the voice intensely, "woulda, shoulda, coulda…but ya didn't! You're pathetic! To think that I saved your worthless life! To think I actually thought of you as a _friend_ and this is what I get!"

The crack spread again only this time it leaped like black lightning. It radiated beneath where Tomoki stood then struck out and climbed up the surrounding walls of the courtyard.

Tomoki, struck to the core by Naruto's denunciation, fell to his knees and pressed his tear and blood-smeared face against the cold iron. "Please…"

"Aw, just go away!" Naruto snarled back in disgust. "You're worthless! Some friend you are. I was really _counting_ on you."

"I'm sorry!" shouted Tomoki with all his breath; flecks of spit flew and his throat burned with arid tingles.

"Save it!" Naruto replied but this time with such cold hatred that the boy flinched and fell back. The cracks in the pavement beneath him widened and great chunks of it fell away, vanishing into a black abyss. "Because of you, I'm gonna have to die too, in here, slowly, alone in the dark!" Naruto's anger broke and his shouts were shaken with sobs. "And…and I'll never get to be Hokage. I'll never get to be…anything."

Tomoki reeled. His friend, the first he'd had in _years_ was going to die and it was his fault. The weight of his failure crashed in on him. "I'm…sorry, Naruto," he gasped again just as the pavement buckled and fell away into a pool of impenetrable, living darkness. The walls of the monastery fell too with all its shining pagodas, followed by the earth, the sun and all the sky. Only the great bell remained, standing firm as the only thing left in the universe. The defeated genin gaped at it for a moment in despair while the darkness held him; he floated upon it for a moment before it rose up to engulf him.

* * *

A great shudder passed through Tomoki's body as his left eye snapped open. Pain lanced him.

A voice spoke amidst other voices but he did not understand what it said. Gradually, the young ninja's vision cleared and he found himself looking up at a plank ceiling supported by slanted, rough-hewn beams. He was not in Ichi-san's treatment room which surprised him first. Second, he seemed to be alive but wasn't at all sure how he should feel about that. The sounds of clanking dishes, a crackling fire, and young voices stirred the boy's memories just as the smell of cooking filled his nostrils and stirred both appetite and nausea.

A woman appeared at his side. She put a comforting hand on his bare shoulder. "It's a day for miracles," she whispered to him soothingly. "You're awake."

Tomoki's mouth moved as he tried to speak but no sound came. He looked at her and she slowly came into focus – long, brown hair touched with grey; dark eyes, and round, weathered cheeks that were streaked with red.

"Shh," his caretaker cautioned gently. "Don't try to move any or you'll tear your stitches."

The boy looked down at his arm, the only exposed part of him, and saw the blood-soaked bandages and expertly-sewn horsehair stitches. Beneath the patched wool blanket that covered the rest of him he could make out the profile of the splints and braces that immobilized his legs. Despite her advice and the bandages that wrapped his head, he tried to speak again anyway.

"You're safe," the woman hurried to assure him. "You're in the village of Shijun, in my house – mine and my family's. My name is Wakana." She cast a leading look over her shoulder to a swarthy, heavyset man who sat at a table beyond, gulping tea, and a door beyond which came the babble and laughter of children playing.

Tomoki felt it coming and quickly turned his head as he began to cough violently. Each spasm sent stabbing pains through his side in particular and the rest of his body in general. "How long?" the broken boy rasped when he was able to in a voice the leaf-ninja couldn't tell was his. Thick fluid dribbled over his dry lips.

Wakana looked at him and her eyes melted with pity. "Two days," she reported.

Tomoki scowled at the news and flinched angrily which sent fresh shocks of pain searing through him.

His benefactress shook her head sternly. "I told you – don't move!" she chastened and wiped his face with a moist rag then rose abruptly but called back: "Just lay still."

The genin didn't hear. Instead Tomoki grit his teeth against the pain and thought about poor Naruto who for these last _four days_ had languished beneath the great bell, a prisoner trapped alone in the darkness, hungry, thirsty and running out of air, confused, desperate, frustrated and afraid…just like in his dream!

Tomoki's ruminations ceased as the woman returned with a bowl of stew and cup of tea. "Go on and eat," she advised with dutiful cheer. "You'll need to if you ever want to get better."

The man at the table grunted. "That's it, Wakana," he grumbled sourly. "This is the first and last time you bring home a vagrant. We have little enough as it is."

"Liu!" she warned then turned back to her patient. "Don't listen to him; you're welcome to whatever we have. It is merit."

Tomoki looked away and bit his lip as the magnitude of what this woman had done settled in. All this work on his body alone must have taken hours.

"I can't begin to thank you," he offered then added, "both of you. I must have been a real mess when you found me and I know there's no way I can repay…Oh!" the boy piped as he remembered. "Wait, I can pay you something at least. I do have a little money."

"_Did_ maybe," warned Wakana delicately who shook her head and smiled as she prepared him for more bad news. "When I found you, you had nothing but your few tattered clothes." Tomoki's eyes widened then fell. "I'm sorry, child. These are hard times. People around here aren't above robbing a body…or what they think is a body."

The genin knitted his brow as he considered what she'd said. "I still owe you everything, Ms. Wakana. I can never pay what you really deserve but I promise I'll pay you something."

Liu spat. "Big words…that's all."

Tomoki ignored him. Under these circumstances there was little else he could do or say. He turned over gingerly and, with Wakana helping him and arranging things, was able to eat. The stew was a mushy combination of random vegetables, spices and meats – no doubt whatever was on hand. As hungry as he was, it tasted better than just about anything he'd ever had before.

"So!" interrupted Liu forcefully from where he sat. "What's your story: accident, misadventure, or just plain stupidity?"

"Liu!" Wakana protested.

"Sorry?" muttered Tomoki, who shook his head gently. "What?"

The man grunted, smiled mirthlessly and took another swallow of his tea. "I was just wondering how a kid your age could end up so tattered and torn, layin' like a carcass among the rocks waiting for the condors to eat 'cha and figured it had to be one of three things: accident, misadventure or plain stupidity," he repeated then leaned forward slowly to ask pointedly, "so which is it?"

The boy's jaw tensed as he considered the answer. "All three," he admitted as much to himself as his company.

"'That right?"

"Pretty much."

Liu gazed at him reprovingly for long moments and watched him eat. "Well, please, don't hold out on us," the man demanded. "Since you don't have any money and can't do us any good, you at least owe us the story of what the hell happened to you."

Tomoki stopped eating and put the spoon back in the bowl. He looked at Liu and glared with his one eye. "If you like," he growled morosely at the man's churlish contempt. "I was beaten up by your Abbot Lin and his brother and sister. They beat me up then threw me off the top of their monastery. The Abbot and his siblings…they're not human -."

Liu slammed his palm against the table, making the dishes jump. "Don't you dare say such things about Abbot Lin and his family!" he shouted and pointed his finger. "They're good people, worth more by far than a thousand miserable, lying vagrants like you and I will not have such filth spoken in my house!"

The genin's brow rose as he feared that Lui might really attack him or throw him bodily out the door which, in his current state, there was very, very little he could do about.

Wakana sat frozen with both hands pressed against her cheeks.

Liu's choleric eyes swiveled toward her. "I'm going to the Golden Vessel," he announced coldly. "Be sure he's gone by the time I get back!"

Tomoki's gaze followed him as the man seized his coat and stormed out the door. The genin turned then toward the worried look in Wakana's eyes. "I'm sorry about that," he offered in a hopeless voice. "I should have been smart enough to just keep quiet. It's not right for me to mess things up like this after you've been so kind."

"You'll stay here until you are well," the woman stated firmly, "no matter what HE has to say about it."

"Please, Ms. Wakana…"

"None of that," she insisted and the look in her eyes quashed any rebuttal. "Finish your supper, child."

"Tell me," Wakana began again after Tomoki had finished. "What village are you from?" Tomoki swallowed his last mouthful of stew, savoring its flavor then took a slow drink of the tea to stall for time. "Let me put it to you this way," she restated, having deciphered the nuances of her charge's expression in a glance, "which of the ninja villages sent you?"

The boy worried his lip, considered making something up but dismissed the idea. "Hidden Leaf," he replied slowly. "Only, I wasn't sent. I came on my own."

"Hidden Leaf?" Wakana repeated as she tilted her face upward in thought. "What country is that?"

"The Land of Fire," said the ninja with a defeated sigh.

"Fire?" She looked at him agog then laughed. "You _have_ come a long, long way!"

"How did you know?" Tomoki wondered aloud and couldn't help but ask.

"I have my ways," answered the woman with a clever grin. "This is a small town; not much can happen here without _someone_ talking about it. Then too, I noticed that you'd been cut, beaten and stabbed even before your tumble down the mountainside. Though you're young and strong no normal boy would have survived it," Wakana explained. "There's also the matter of your scars. You've got a good one," she said and reached over to draw an 'X' across his chest, "from where it looks like a man cut you with a machete."

Tomoki rolled his tongue along the raw wound on the inside of his cheek. "It was a woman," he corrected her, "with a nine-ring broadsword. But that was a good guess."

Her eyes wrinkled as she joined him in a smile but then turned serious as she said, "Then there're all those others, worse than that, faded with time – long, deep scratches and terrible burns." Her eyes flickered toward his. "Your skin tells a story far more horrible than words ever could."

_"All right,"_ said Tomoki sharply to put her observations to an end. "I get it. But what do you care?"

"I was just wondering," she leaned forward as if to impart or receive forbidden wisdom, and asked in a whisper: "are you here about the Abbot and his clan?"

The genin looked at her carefully. "As it turns out…yes."

Wakana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I knew it."

Tomoki's one exposed eye widened. "I take it you don't share your husband's admiration?"

"I certainly used to," she admitted and looked up toward the rafters. "Oh, I threw flower petals at their feet when Lin, Hsien, and Inakaya first came, and I prayed for them when they went to war against the Dancing Stones."

Tomoki groaned as he shifted positions; the mattress' wood frame creaking under his movement.

"I thought to myself even then that there was something not quite right with them," the woman related, her eyes distant as she recalled. "Abbot Lin is certainly charming in an innocent sort of way, he might even be a good boy at heart but his brother and sister -," she stopped herself, not wanting to get sidetracked. "Anyway, my cousin is a brick-layer, and he told me just this morning all about how this strange boy fought with them in the courtyard of the great bell and so I thought…maybe you have some answers."

Tomoki frowned and shut his eye then gave a sardonic laugh. "What do you want to know?"

"The truth," she answered insistently. "Everything."

The boy's eye flickered towards Wakana's resolute expression. "I'll tell you what I can though I doubt you'll believe me," he said. "The Abbot isn't human. None of them are." Seeing that she didn't reject out of hand what he'd just said, the ninja continued: "They're all animal spirits. Hsien is a boar, Inakaya a leopard, and Abbot Lin is a crane." His caretaker surprised him with a nod of her head and her young patient blurted: "You don't exactly seem surprised."

"Now that you've said it, it makes perfect sense." Wakana looked at him, her lips pressed together in a tight smile. "Since you're new here that may sound silly. But it explains the weird way they act sometimes, the things they're able to do and how they could defeat all those bandits – just the three of them along with a handful of our men."

Here she let out a breath. "I think I could overlook their strangeness, even get used to it, but ever since they came here people have been disappearing, especially children," Wakana explained tensely then shot a look of maternal vigilance toward the door behind which her own children played. "Oh, sure, it's always been dangerous enough around here for the young ones. Kids fall off the trails, get lost, fall sick, and there are wild animals but it's never been like this. For awhile I believed what the Abbot told us about there still being bandits around. For awhile I believed it…even after my own son, my oldest, vanished." She leaned close and laid a firm hand on Tomoki's shoulder. "Please," his caretaker begged, "do you know what could have happened to him?"

"No, ma'am," the ninja tried to answer soothingly but the memories of Hsein's voice, and the monster and his sister's predatory fondness for human flesh drew conclusions in his mind that were not easy to detour. "Not for sure."

Wakana seemed to read through the awkwardness of her patient's prevarication, the hesitant tone of his voice then sat back, a look of suppressed terror in her eyes. "So…what do mean to do," she asked, holding back emotion through sheer force of will, "kill them?"

"If it comes to that," Tomoki replied then added after some consideration: "and it probably will unless they kill me first which is probably more likely. They've taken a friend of mine and I have to get him back."

Wakana wrung her hands together and said with a sigh, "I said you can stay here for as long as you want to and I meant it. But it's sure that word will get out. Liu believes in the Abbot without question and doesn't like strangers much anyway." She waved her hand and observed, "Right now he's probably blabbing all about you to his drinking buddies at the Golden Vessel. One of them's bound to put two-and-two together."

Tomoki drew a breath. "I would never put you in that kind of trouble, besides, you've done more than enough." He lay back in bed and slowly forced his hands to touch though he quivered with pain at the effort. Soft laughter escaped him as he wiggled and flexed his fingers, and his dull, brown eye lifted. "I really am strangely fortunate."

"How's that?" asked Wakana. "That you're still alive?"

"Yes, that," admitted Tomoki, "and my fingers still work and your care has given me enough of my strength back to do this." His face screwed with concentration as his hands came together, fingers intertwined.

The woman cupped her hands together uncertainly as her patient seemed to glow for a moment and waves of heat poured from him. "What's all that?"

"A jutsu," Tomoki gasped, "a ninja technique called 'Five Elements/Eight Harmonies."

"Ah," she said. "What's it supposed to do?"

"See for yourself," the boy said and began to unwind his bandages.

"Stop that!" she shrieked in alarm until the boy calmed her.

"It's ok, just look." He raised his arm and showed her that his wounds were completely healed. Where grizzly, fresh cuts and tears had seeped blood and fluid, now her expertly-sewn stitches seamed though unblemished skin.

The woman's mouth fell open in amazement. "I…don't believe it," she gasped as the young leaf-ninja unraveled his stained bandages, pulled up the blanket that covered him, undid his splints and swung his bare feet to the floor.

"Um, Ms. Wakana?" Tomoki began delicately, realizing now that, minus his bandages, he was pretty much going to be naked. "You've already done a lot for me but, um, if I could borrow some clothesI'd be even _more_ grateful."

"Of course, of course!" she exclaimed. "I have some that used to be my son's. But tell me, what will you do now?"

"First thing," the genin stated seriously. "I need to find my swords."

She nodded with understanding. "You're going to fight the Abbot again?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point," he explained and looked at her, for the first time with both eyes. "They're mine and I want them back!"

* * *

By the time Wen had finished telling his grand stories of adventure and romance, half the audience he'd managed to gather in the wide alley just outside the Luck and Happiness Teahouse erupted with cheers and applause while the other half poured out their disbelief with hisses, moans, boos and rude comments. The young man smiled a brazen, gap-toothed smile, sheathed the swords he'd been flourishing and crashing together for dramatic effect then bowed graciously at which a handful or two of coins dropped on the unfolded blanket that was his stage.

The last light of the evening was fading into night and the surrounding mountain peaks glowed orange at their edges. The children who'd stopped to listen to his tale, those very few who were unaccompanied, raced homeward while the rough assortment of sherpas, muleteers and caravan men made a more relaxed departure into the teahouse.

Quick as a cat, the busker wrapped up his blanket and all the money within then dropped to all fours in search of those coins that fell short. His calloused fingers reached out for a stray then flinched as a heavy, leather boot came down on it.

"Twenty-percent, Wen," the foot's owner insisted – a barrel-chested man with sheared-short black hair atop a boulder head. Thick arms bulged from the short, wide sleeves of an elegant green and blue silk pongee worn over canvas pants.

Wen looked up and his thick lips rose into a lopsided grin. He worked his hand free, stood then adjusted the tight-fitting vest that he wore unfastened and the two swords that clattered awkwardly in his belt. "What did you say to me, Gunbei?" he objected loudly, staring up into the teahouse owner's impassive, grey eyes before adjusting his headband – a genuine hitai-ate boasting the emblem of Konohagakure no Sato upon its metal plate. "Don't you know," the storyteller explained and thrust his pointed finger into the man's bulbous chest, "that I could kill you with just one blow?"

"Ah-hah," the man accepted. "But what about _them?"_ he said and jacked his thumb behind him where two of his tattooed and sinewy custodians stood by, awaiting his word.

Wen swallowed hard. "It'd take more than its worth," he admitted, beaten but unbowed, then handed over some of his hard-won coins. The owner grinned, turned on his heel and headed back inside. "Choke on it, ya thief!" Wen hissed.

"What's that?" Gunbei turned and glared.

"Ok-kay, chief!" Wen 'repeated'. "Pleasure doing business with you!" he announced cordially, saluted then turned to go home.

"Hey, Mister!" a boy suddenly accosted him. He was only a bit shorter than Wen was, despite being at least three years younger, plain-looking with close-cropped brown hair and uninspiringly brown eyes. His ill-fitting baggy, brown trousers were cinched around a long, lean waist with a rope belt and sheared off unevenly at the cuffs, while his awful, stained shirt of blue, light blue and pea-green stripes was engulfingly wide across his body but far too short at the sleeves. Despite his non-descript face the kid seemed familiar somehow. "That was a great story," the stranger continued as he drew along side.

"Glad you liked it, kid," Wen grumbled with an affected, world-weary indifference then asked as an afterthought, "Were you in the crowd?"

"I sure was," the boy affirmed, "'right up front."

"Huh, well…good for you."

"No, I mean it," persisted the newcomer. "I mean, the way you and your band of six hand-picked ninjas took on all those bandits and saved the village, just the seven of you! And then you took on the six demons of Kimon and sent them back to hell, and then," he gushed, "then you defeated that legendary samurai warrior in a duel at sunrise! Why, it's incredible! You must be some kind of, I don't know, super-ninja or something!"

"I have to admit," said Wen with a sage smile, "that's true. The path I've chosen is not easy. The way of the ninja…is both a blessing and a curse."

"You don't say, wow," the boy replied in a leveling tone as his eyes of lusterless brown looked left then right along the vacating street. "I've never seen anything like what you said in your stories, you know, bandit armies or legendary warriors but I do know one thing about ninja battles."

Wen blew out a derisive breath and said, "Yeah, and what's that?" The boy wheeled around in front of him and rested a hand on his chunky shoulder. "Hey, watch it! What is this?" grumbled the busker, but the boy's fingers snapped shut like a bear trap and dug into his clavicle, gripping with terrifying strength around the bone with fingers and thumb almost closing. Wen's breath seized and his knees buckled from an excruciating pain unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

The boy leaned close to his ear and whispered intensely, "Like you're gonna be IN one if you don't give me my stuff back."

Tomoki put his vest on over his woeful, borrowed shirt and sorted through its pockets thankful that, except for his cash, all their contents seemed to be in place.

Wen, meanwhile, huddled on the pavement in the alleyway where he sat and nursed the bruised spot along his upper chest. "So," he began hesitantly, "you're a real ninja, huh?"

The genin strapped his swords on at his waist in businesslike fashion then answered dully, "not a very good one…but yes."

The storyteller's thick-featured face flickered into an uneasy smile. "Wow…I sure never took you for one."

The younger, thinner boy glanced heavenward. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"And that disguise!" Wen congratulated. "I mean, nobody could ever see through that!"

Tomoki turned and gave him a withering look. "Thanks, I worked hard on it," he said coolly then reached for the tied-up cloak that had Wen's money. "Relax," he suggested as he sensed the storyteller's tension. "I'm not going to rob you but am going to take back what I had with me. I have some bills to pay."

Wen chuckled nervously. "Fair enough," he opined. "It's not like I could stop you either way, right?" Tomoki let the remark pass. "It must be great being a ninja."

Tomoki sighed, tossed the remaining coins to Wen and explained scornfully, quoting him: "It's a blessing and a curse."

"Oh, ha-ha," replied Wen dismally. "You know, you've got a real harlequin sense of humor."

The ninja rounded on him suddenly, making him flinch. "You know, over the last few days I've been tricked, beaten, cut, stabbed, almost beheaded, attacked by beasts, thrown off a mountain and robbed!" he pointed out. "So whatever sense of humor I have left is what it is."

"Oh," Wen acknowledged. "I guess it makes sense that it'd be kind of a tough life." His brow knitted in thought. "You say all that happened to you here? Just what the hell are you trying to do?"

Tomoki shook out his dry canteen disappointedly then replied, "Not that it's any of your business…but I've come to save a friend of mine from the Abbot, his brother and sister; if he's even still alive," he paused for a moment and his head drooped, "or still my friend. As you might guess, things haven't exactly gone very well."

Wen nodded obligingly. "So it's true what they say about those three, huh?"

The genin gave him a pained look then threw his hands in the air. "Does _everyone_ around here know?" he asked then grumbled, "Why doesn't anybody DO something?"

The older boy shrugged. "Lots of people know and lots more don't." He grinned cleverly then added: "and more than a few know but don't really WANT to know, if you know what I mean…so what's to be done? It's hard enough just to survive around here so who wants to add fighting demons and monster or whatever to that? You can count ME out!"

"Swell," Tomoki commented snidely.

"Hey, not everyone's a super-tough ninja."

Tomoki chuckled and shook his head. "What, do you think I'm tough just because of that nerve point I used on you? That was just some cheesy, day-one stuff. If I was any kind of _decent_ ninja I'd be done by now." The weary genin paced in a circle for a moment then slumped against the wall, sat and rubbed both hands down his face. His fingers snapped open a pocket and pulled out another headband, a twin to the one he'd reclaimed from Wen and tied around his forehead. Both bore the crest of Konohagakure no Sato – the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He gripped it tightly in his hand. "Sasuke's sharingan-eyes would have found their weaknesses," he began. "Sakura would have figured out a plan that'd have actually worked, and Naruto…well, I'm guessing his army of shadow-clones would've been more than enough to beat the fur, bacon and feathers off the whole bunch."

Wen nodded along for a while then rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what or who you're talking about but none of those guys are here." He pondered hard for a moment then went on with waxing enthusiasm, "And really, I mean, if you went through all of what you said you did and you're still alive-and-kicking then you GOT to have something going for you, right?"

Tomoki's brow rose slightly and his cheek twitched. "That…or I've been luckier than I deserve."

"Some attitude!" spat Wen who then sniffed, "be that way if you want to, it's not going to get your friend any freer."

The ninja stared over the shelf of his knees. "It's already been _four days."_

"So what, is he a puss?" Tomoki fixed him with a glare but Wen stood firm. "Hey, he's your friend, not mine, so I don't know," he explained coldly. "Answer the question."

"No," insisted Tomoki. "He's not."

Wen stood up, went to Tomoki's side and sat beside him. "Look at me…I'VE gone without food for four days before and I'm no ninja." The genin looked at him and the storyteller went on: "And you - you don't look like you've ever had a silver spoon in your mouth so I'll bet you have too; am I right?"

Tomoki nodded.

"Ok then," Wen concluded. "Maybe it's time you get your narrow butt off the pavement and got back to work!"

The genin gave him a hard look but then his expression lifted. "Hmm, I'll bet that's the most useful thing you've ever said in your whole life," he offered dryly. "It's a lot like something Naruto would say. I guess wisdom IS where you find it."

Wen laughed. "You know I'm right," he said as he started to rise but Tomoki grabbed a handful of waistband and yanked him right back down.

"Don't stop just yet," said the ninja wryly in answer to the young busker's questioning look. "I can tell you're on a roll so please, 'Master' Wen, tell me what I should do now."

"What do you want from me?" replied Wen with disbelief. "I'm just a…," he stopped as Tomoki made a dismissive, rolling motion with his fingers. "I don't know," said the storyteller who frowned then suggested, "Whatever you did last time _obviously_ didn't work so try something else." Tomoki nodded but with little gusto at which Wen fell into a contemplative silence. "Ok," he said at last with all trace of light-heartedness gone from his voice. "Here it is: maybe, if you want to get your friend back, then you'll have to do something you don't want to do…maybe something that you've never done, or even thought about doing, before." He looked away. "There's a lot of things I've done that I'm not proud of; I guess robbing you is one. But I look back and ask myself, 'well, what else would you do - starve?" Tomoki had shut his eyes but Wen could tell his solitary audience still listened intently. "When it comes down to it the only one who's going to take care of me is ME. And I'd much rather live as a criminal than die noble." The young man's chin sank against his chest. "That's all I got."

Tomoki opened his eyes. "Thank you," he said simply and moved to rise but then Wen pulled _him_ back down by the roped waistband and Tomoki looked at him with surprise. "What?"

Wen's expression screwed and he opened his mouth to speak, "Do you…?" He stopped, thought about it then tried again, "Do you think I could be a ninja?"

Tomoki did what he could to reign in his expression then decided the young storyteller was serious. "It would be a very hard road for you," he informed him. "You'd be starting your training with little seven and eight-year-olds most of who could beat you death without even raising a sweat."

Wen made a face as he considered. "That's not a 'no' is it?"

"No," said Tomoki with a smile and stood up, "it's not." He took a couple of steps then turned back. "By the way, I've heard all your stories before, only it wasn't you in any of them."

Wen scowled and covered his face with his hands in an exaggeration of shame. "I need some new material, huh?"

"That's for sure."

"Got any ideas?"

Tomoki's eyes trailed upward in thought. "Well…next time you could tell about how you killed a witch named Xiaomei and her army of monsters," he advised.

Wen shook with laughter. "Sounds like a crazy story even for me but I might just give it a try," he said and cocked his head, then asked of the ninja's retreating back: "Hey, just what the hell's _your_ name anyway? And where are you going all of a sudden?"

"Tomoki," the figure called back, waved farewell then answered: "To get back to work; what did you think?" before it stepped into a shadow and was gone.


	5. Transgressions

**Part 5 - Transgressions**

It was very early in the morning and still quite dark when Abbot Lin walked past the sawhorse barricades and entered the Courtyard of the Great Bell. He took in a deep, relaxing breath of the cool air, let it fill his lungs and then blew it out. It seemed strange that this place, often so crowded and busy with activity during the daylight hours, should be so quiet now. In some places the gloom was lifted where paper lanterns hung from brackets cantilevered from the surrounding scaffolding, glowing in the darkness like pale stars.

All traces of the earlier violence had been tidied up and cleared away, yet the Abbot's expression put forth the idea that the memories of it lingered with him still. Whatever he thought, construction would begin again soon with the morning light and with it the possibilities of a new world free of such calamity could arise.

Lin wandered in the haunted silence between shadowy stacks of barrels and palettes of stone, letting his fingers brush occasionally against their firm, rough surfaces then walked up before the Great Bell. A breeze blew and stirred through the boy's cascades of white hair, conjuring gentle whirls of dust and debris in the moments of its passage. For a long time the crane-spirit stood - a lone figure whose soft, flowing, white robes and hair contrasted the bell's unyielding black.

He turned around then lifted his head toward the sky whose darkness was beginning to fade before brighter encroachments of inky purples and indigos. "Ey-ya!" the Abbot called out suddenly, breaking the silence, "guards of the north tower!"

A bearded, dark-eyed man appeared at one of the pagoda's balconies and saluted, with right fist pressed into left palm. "Revered Abbot!" he piped alertly.

Abbot Lin turned and eyed him skeptically. "Everything is well, I trust?"

"All's clear and has been the whole night through," he reported in a deep, flat voice.

"I see," Lin seemed to agree then turned and shouted: "And how is it with you in the southern tower?"

Another man appeared in the pagoda across from the first, a young man with a thin moustache and fair features. He cupped his hands to his mouth and cried back: "All's well here too, Abbot Lin!"

The Abbot nodded obligingly then raised a hand to his narrow chin as he sighed and turned. "And you, eastern tower?" he continued and again a guard replied that there was nothing afoot to disturb the monastery's peace, but the lanky Abbot pressed on. "And I suppose that the same is true for you in the western tower?" The guard there also affirmed that indeed it was.

"I see," said Lin quietly to himself then shook his head, apparently conflicted. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it with a concerned look that melted away after a few moments, replaced with a charitable grin. "You know," he began loudly. "I really am quite relieved that you survived that fall, Tomoki. My brother and sister get…carried away sometimes, but they…," the young abbot paused for a moment then again abandoned what he'd thought to say. "I hope you understand that there is no power on this earth that can move this bell," he announced and his words echoed back.

"And I hope _you_ understand," said a voice softly in reply, so close by that Lin startled, "that I still have to try."

The white-haired boy looked up and his mouth fell open at the sight of Tomoki who sat there contemplatively just above him on the Great Bell's flattened top. The ninja pushed off and slid down its iron curve to land right in front of the surprised Abbot who startled again.

"I suppose I should thank you, young master," Lin greeted after he'd collected himself, then his eyes fell to his visitor's swords. "Doubtless, if you meant to kill me, you could have done it very easily."

The genin's face drooped tiredly and he shook his head. "It's not really my style," he muttered with a smile.

The Abbot smiled back and noted for a moment the boy's odd clothing - baggy, brown trousers, the pocketed vest he'd worn earlier, and a truly hideous, striped shirt worn underneath; all three stained with smears and streaks of black grease and brown rust, as were his hands and face. Lin clasped his hands behind his back and canted his attention toward the pagodas. "With that in mind, I trust that you have not done my disciples any irreparable harm?" he inquired in a concerned voice.

Tomoki shrugged and stifled a yawn. "Nothing that a couple of days in bed won't fix," he reassured. The boy's brow furrowed suddenly. "I thought I'd done my Transformation Justu perfectly, studied your guards' faces, voices, mannerisms…" He looked at the Abbot in consternation and asked: "How did you know?"

"I have a sense for such things from my former life where one is constantly on the watch," Lin offered. "That and 'Revered Abbot' – such a curious expression! You're the only one who's ever called me that."

"Ah," Tomoki conceded with a pained wince.

"But also -," Lin continued hesitantly then stopped himself.

"'But also'…what?" the genin pressed.

"That," began the Abbot reluctantly as he turned and pointed, "that is the north tower."

Tomoki blinked, looked at the dawn's pale glow growing in the east and then in the direction the Abbot pointed. "Aggh!" spat the boy in utter mortification as he realized his mistake then turned away, stomped his feet and vented: "I'm just so stupid!"

"Don't take it so hard, Tomoki," the Abbot comforted him. "Your techniques are truly a wonder. You looked and sounded exactly like the men manning the watch. Then there's how you made yourself appear in all four towers when I called out, and don't forget how you were able to sneak up on me."

Tomoki hung his head. "Thank you, Abbot Lin," he offered with tense sincerity, "but there's really no excuse for that kind of sloppiness. It just kills me to think about how hard I've worked just to be mediocre; really it's a disgrace! I don't know _how_ Iruka-sensei ever graduated me." The genin shook his head and waved his arm dismissively. "There're so many others who would have had Naruto freed long before now."

"I doubt that's true," replied the Abbot. The animal-spirit watched patiently as Tomoki sulked then brought his hands to his chin. "I greatly admire you," he confessed. "Your devotion to your friend, who's like a brother to you, shows great virtue. It is this sort of piety that is the source of all morality - the foundation of society itself."

"I'm honored that you think so," the ninja replied and turned toward him. "As much as I've tried to hate you, I don't. I think you really are trying to walk a spiritual path; create a better world. Though you're not human, you have a lot of what's good in us…but a lot of what's bad too." He made a face then added acutely, "That _obviously_ doesn't apply to your brother and sister…they're killers, you know."

The Abbot shut his eyes. "Being human and trying to walk the spiritual path isn't easy for us. Our natures…pull at us to stray from it; to sacrifice everything in order to satisfy _senseless inclinations."_

"That's a pretty way to put it," Tomoki chuckled softly, sympathetically.

"True enough," Lin replied and his eyes filled suddenly with tears. "I like you so very much, Tomoki," he blurted in a child's cracking voice. "Why do we have to fight?"

The genin answered kindly but firmly, "You _know_ why."

"The nine-tailed fox."

Tomoki furrowed his brow. "To you he's a demon but to me he's a friend," he began. "I wanted to explain that to you and I should have last time but things just…got out of control. I'd have told you all about how hard he works, the pains he's gone through and how brave and kind he is. I'd tell you about his dream to become Hokage one day, to finally be respected and be strong enough to protect those he cares about."

Abbot Lin nodded. "You're right to tell me that but it remains –."

"I know," Tomoki interrupted. "I know. Did you think I could forget?"

"The Kyuubi's spirit will eventually overwhelm him," Lin argued then looked puzzled as Tomoki tried to hide his smile, "you must know that."

"If you knew Naruto," the genin snickered, "then there'd be no doubt in your mind…that HIS spirit will win out in the end. That poor demon doesn't stand a chance."

The Abbot's expression furrowed with thought. "I believe you with all my heart," he offered. "But in all good conscious, I cannot possibly take that risk."

Tomoki tensed with growing frustration. "Isn't there anything I can do to convince you; to change your mind? Please, Abbot, I'll even take his place beneath the bell if that would satisfy you."

"Tomoki, you know very well that it's not possible," the Abbot retorted defensively. "I didn't imprison him because I wanted to but because I had no choice. Please understand…if all choices in life were clearly good or clearly evil then there would be no difficulty distinguishing them."

"Do you want to beg, Abbot?" seethed Tomoki with sudden intensity; his weary, red-tinged eyes blazed like fire. "I'll beg if that's what it takes because I know this is our last chance." He grabbed Lin by the shoulders and muscled him around to face the east. "Look!" he shouted, pointing. "Look at that! Do you see that light? It's the sun rising on what's going to be a beautiful day; but it's not. If I can't convince you then it's not going to be a beautiful day; it'll be anything but that!"

The Abbot shrugged loose of the boy's half-hearted grasp and paced a few steps towards the dawn. "I'm afraid…that our differences may be irreconcilable," he muttered gravely as if a thousand deaths hung upon his words. "I have not been human for very long. But as one, I know the weight of decisions and will bear the consequences, come what may."

Tomoki stared at him; his face hollowed by disappointment. At last, he reigned his expression and rubbed his eyes one at a time with the heels of his hands, leaving grimy smudges.

"So…how does this begin?" asked the Abbot; uneasy yet resolved.

The boy shrugged and his slack expression flickered, then he reached into one of his vest's many pockets and produced a single shuriken. The shining, metal star's points and sharp edges caught the first rays of the sun which had just started to rise over the parapets. "Like this," Tomoki muttered as he snapped his arm taut and sent the missile on its course. There was a brief musical note as the shuriken cut through a tight string he'd tied hours earlier. Somewhere just over the courtyard's wall, an engine roared to life.

"W-what are you doing?" the Abbot asked and narrowed his eyes which looked up over the Great Bell and saw the steel cables hooked to it which had been all but invisible in the darkness. He followed them as they arced upward precipitously toward the tower cranes. "Ah, yes," he noted. "An obvious notion, Tomoki, but as mighty as those cranes are they'll never lift this bell. Using them is useless."

"That's what I figured," explained Tomoki. "That's why I'm not going to use them; I'm going to _sacrifice_ them."

"What?" Lin sputtered and looked back and forth in alarm.

"Those cranes are at least fifteen stories tall," Tomoki explained, "built of steel, and with massive counterweights at the top. That's a lot of potential energy – that's the way they put it in school. It's not pretty, but I figure that when those cranes fall over they'll just tug that big bell right off!"

Abbot Lin shook his head. "It's – it's impossible."

"No, not really," the boy offered. "They're pieced together in bolted sections. Now granted, it was a lot of work but all it took was a good, strong grip and a really long wrench…that and a chain and a motor to pull a column out of plumb."

Suddenly there was a resonant 'ping' and the cranes began to tilt. Just slightly and slowly at first, the massive structures listed to one side and their massive arms began to swing as they started to fall. Steel buckled and bolts popped, filling the air with a deafening, unworldly groan. The Abbot cowered as the cranes' arms swooped overhead, crossed and rushed by. Across three courtyards of the Shining Summit Monastery, the cranes fell, smashing walls and tearing through the timber-framed pagodas and solid stone walls like matchsticks and children's blocks in their wake until their impetus tugged them clear and together they tumbled over the mountainside.

Great clouds of dust exploded from the wreckage, raced over the Courtyard of the Great Bell and covered all in whirling shades of white and grey. Tomoki closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears against the din, regretting even now the destruction he'd caused.

By degrees, the noise subsided as the two cranes settled wherever they ended up resting, undoubtedly in the gorge far below. Tomoki chanced a peek and slowly opened his eyes, clearing cloaks of thick dust from his face, but the sight that awaited him made him pale – the Great Bell still stood.

"No…oh, no…," he croaked but the vision could not be denied. The hooks were still fastened and the cables ran stiff, straight, and quivering with tension over the edge of the ruined outer wall. Distraught, the genin hung his head, slouched over and braced his hands on his knees.

From the swirling clouds of dust, the Abbot stormed toward him, apoplectic with rage. "Wretch!" he shouted. "Imbecile! The Great Bell is rooted by daoist magic to the center of the earth! Just look what you've done, and for what? For what, so you can have your precious, little friend back?" The crane-spirit grabbed Tomoki by the collar of his vest and yanked him close. "Loss is part of life!" the boy railed; his face red and his spit spraying into the young ninja's dirty face. "All your religions, all your philosophies understand this, why can't you? Naruto is gone! He is under that bell and there he will stay for all eternity! Eons will pass and ages will roll, and neither he nor the demon within him will ever see blue sky or green grass again!" He shook Tomoki ferociously with both hands. "Do you understand yet? Has it penetrated that thick, human head of yours?"

Tomoki's eyes rolled in their sockets for a moment before they met the Abbot's with cold resolve and a grin crept over his face, a ghastly grimace followed by rolls of hollow laughter that made the animal-spirit release him and stagger back. "Don't get mad yet, 'Revered Abbot,'" quoth the ninja. "I haven't even started yet!"

Lin's white hair blew fitfully in the morning wind. "I think I understand now," he said and his face went even whiter as he raised a trembling finger. "You're insane. I should have realized it before but you hid it so well that I didn't see."

"Insane?" the boy questioned. "Don't you really mean 'evil'? Didn't you say just a little while ago that I was 'admirable'; that I was 'virtuous'?

"I was wrong!" squawked the Abbot, "so horribly wrong about you!"

A tumult arose at the courtyard's gate as a crowd of workmen and disciples arrived to survey the destruction. "Abbot Lin!" one of them cried. "Are you alright? What's happened?"

Hsien's massive form towered up over the crowd then, as the giant spotted Tomoki, glared and bulled his way through – knocking people aside like so many bowling pins. Slowly, inexorably, he made his way though veils of dusty haze toward where the boy and the Abbot stood. His gruesome grin was not at all displeased. The boar-spirit flexed his long, thick arms and took from across his back his weapon: the flying guillotine. "I knew it was you," Hsien announced and pointed straight at Tomoki. "When I heard the noise and saw the dust clouds rise, I knew, even though I was all but certain I'd killed you."

Harsh music rang through the air as the steel cables began to fray then, at once, snapped, followed by the racket of the tower cranes' final, tumultuous descent down the mountainside. All paused to listen to the overwhelming cacophony with blank, stricken faces then turned back towards Tomoki.

Inakaya arrived next, springing effortlessly over the rubble. The leopard-spirit stopped at Hsein's side for a moment before she began instinctively to circle around, twirling her spear while her big brother advanced.

"It's nice to see you again too, pig," Tomoki greeted, unable to help himself from smiling. "And you too Inakaya. Yeah, I thought I'd come back to see if you all were game for…_best two out of three?"_

Lin twitched nervously as the genin's eyes flickered toward him then vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing instantly behind the surprised Abbot. The arch of his foot slammed into the back of the crane-spirit's leg and brought him to his knees; one hand seized his shoulder while the other whipped a sword around to the front of his neck. The blade's razor edge pressed against the Abbot's fair skin as Tomoki wheeled him around toward his siblings. "Stop!" he warned the approaching pair.

Hsein paused but only for a moment then he roared with laughter, took three great, leaping strides and hurled forth his guillotine which whistled through the air toward both Tomoki and his brother.

Boards splintered and paper sacks shredded before Hsien's weapon. The beast's eyes widened for a moment then settled into a sneer. "Oh yes," he observed, "the Substitution Jutsu. Our little rodent is very tricky."

"And you're very predictable!" shouted Tomoki from high up upon the scaffolds with the Abbot his prisoner still. "I know your black heart too well to try and use your brother as a hostage." The ninja then made hand signs and disappeared with the Abbot into the shadows only to reappear at the courtyard gate before the stunned audience of tradesmen and the Abbot's disciples.

Tomoki whirled Lin into their arms and pointed at him. "Stay out of this, Abbot," he warned with cold menace, "or I'll have to pluck much more than just your feathers."

Lin looked at him blankly, helplessly, as he straightened himself while his followers bridled. "Dog!" one cursed him, "monster!" decried another. "How dare you speak to the Abbot like that?"

Tomoki bared his teeth and silenced them with the fury in his eyes. "Your Abbot is a fraud, an animal masquerading as a man!" he frothed. "Hasn't he told you? Haven't you figured it out YET? It's his brother and sister who've been preying on your children all this time!" The genin turned quickly and sprang away before Hsien and Inakaya could reach him but still heard the strange choral mixture of horrified gasps and contemptuous jeers from the crowd at his accusation.

The leopard-spirit, being much faster than her brother boar, was fast upon Tomoki's retreating heels. Inakaya lashed and stabbed with her spear as she chased him across the courtyard. She sprang when he sprang, over the Great Bell, up into the scaffolds and out onto the outer wall's balconies where new detachments of guards wisely fled for their lives.

"You can't run forever!" hissed Inakaya as Tomoki dashed inside a remaining pagoda. The animal-spirit leaped after him but was brought up short as she went inside and found that she was the only one there.

In the courtyard below, still littered and hazy from the tower cranes' destruction, Hsien searched. "Damn her," he muttered, "always hogging the best catches." His face twitched as he sensed something then looked down at his shadow which had turned just then from pale grey to jet black. A blur erupted from it and the boar-spirit felt a sudden, searing pain at his forehead.

"You didn't just say what I thought you said?" Tomoki asked him as he landed in a crouch, waved a sword then backed away. "About 'hogging'?"

Hsien looked down at him and felt the thin trickle of blood flow around his brow, down his cheek, and drip off his chin. "You," he snarled. "Your death will be more excruciating than any creature that's ever died before!"

"Big talk," Tomoki answered. "I've had pigs like you for breakfast! Oh!" He made a surprised face then chuckled. "I guess that's actually true!"

As if to answer, Hsien charged. He swung his weapon up towards the genin, but Tomoki sidestepped, jumped, then stomped on Hsien's arm when he brought it back low and across, then smashed the beast squarely in the face with the instep of his foot.

Shrugging off the impact of the ninja's kick, Hsien spun around and hurled his guillotine at his retreating foe who ducked away and blocked. The sheer force made the genin stumble as his swords pinged loudly against the guillotine's spinning blades; then Hsien whipped his arm sharply, telegraphing through the chain, lashing Tomoki across the cheek.

The boy wobbled, stung from the blow, gathered himself and ran, dodging the weapon's equally-deadly return to its master's hand. Hsien rushed after him. As the boy leaped to the scaffolding's second level, the boar-spirit slashed and smashed through the slender, wooden posts, then stepped back ready to strike as the floorboards above him fell in.

Tomoki looked down at Hsien from where he hung on by one hand from the rickety boards of the level just above. The monster's gaze snapped towards the ninja and Hsien started to laugh. He coiled his weapon back and let it fly but Tomoki swung himself aside, grabbed at the planks that extended from the bay beside him and hopped back down onto the scaffold's second level. Hsien bounded up after him and gave chase; the floorboards bowing alarmingly under his weight.

Tomoki ran, threw himself against the outer wall as the guillotine sped by, rolled under the weapon's trailing chain then shimmied up to the level above.

Hsien licked his lips with anticipation, smashed the floorboards above him aside with one stroke of his powerful arm and jumped up, cutting off Tomoki as he tried to rush past him.

The genin skidded to a stop then fled the other way and Hsien quickly followed. The beast slashed once more with this weapon but missed and lost ground then pushed himself to go faster.

The animal-spirit's wrathful eyes locked on the boy's back and the flashing soles of his sandals then widened as his prey drew his swords which curled up over his head and lashed out high then low against the posts and tethers on either side of him. The floor in front of Hsien fell away, cutting him off, just as the boards above came down along with an avalanche of stone blocks which plowed into the boar-monster's face and chest, knocking him down. The scaffold's thin, planked floor beneath him gave way immediately and he plunged down to the next level which also gave way in an explosion of splinters and cracking wood. The boar-monster grit his teeth and braced for the ground's impact but was shocked instead by the sharp tips of solidly-braced steel bars that scraped his armored flanks, gashed his arms and pierced clean through his leg and chest.

Tomoki alighted beside him with swords drawn, spared a look at the beast's grizzly, gurgling wounds, then turned away.

"Don't you dare pity me, rodent!" rasped Hsien amidst a riot of broken boards and chipped, stone blocks as blood poured down and bubbled up over the bars that impaled him.

Tomoki stopped. "I don't pity you," he clarified. "I'll save that for all your victims…and their families. They're the ones who really deserve it."

As he walked on, leaving Hsien to his demise, Inakaya bounded up. She gazed at Hsien's struggling form and her expression went blank.

"Hello, Inakaya," said Tomoki with ice in his eyes. "Sorry about your brother." The leopard-spirit started at his impudence as he tapped the flat of his sword against his head and continued, "It's a good lesson, though, safety-first - always cap your re-bars."

The leopard-spirit drew a hand across her cheek and took a long breath. "It's just that…I didn't think you could kill him so quickly," she said then cast a long, unsettled look at her brother's now-still form and Tomoki used the moment to plant his swords and make hand signs.

"Ninja art: Iron-Vest Jutsu," he muttered.

Angered that she'd given him the advantage, Inakaya lunged forward, but this time her speed came as no surprise. The ninja canted his head to the side and let the point pass by. The leopard-spirit pulled back and stabbed again for his vitals but the point slid off his armored skin and he grabbed the shaft, seized one of his swords and whirled it up, cutting her spear short. Dismayed, the woman plunged her now-blunted weapon at him but Tomoki knocked the end down to the ground then cracked it in the middle with a stomp. Inakaya looked up in shock and was just barely able to slap aside the flat of the genin's blade as he thrust the point at her throat.

"Are you really going to keep on fighting," Tomoki asked, "when you don't believe you can beat me anymore?"

She looked up and her eyes flickered uncertainly. "You killed me once before, and now you killed Hsien again," the leopard-monster pointed out. "I don't feel bad about that. It's not like we really are brother and sister. We just said so 'cause Lin wanted it that way." Inakaya paused for a moment. "I do see what you mean. I have little to fight for and a part of me feels like I should run."

Tomoki read her expression and the odd accents of her voice. "And now you're going to tell me why you're not going to," he prophesized sadly. "Am I right?"

The animal-spirit nodded seriously. "Though we weren't related, I can't let Hsien lie there un-avenged." She thought for a moment then met his eyes. "Is this what it is to be human?"

"Maybe," said Tomoki who nodded, not unkindly. "There's a lot more to it, but that's probably as close as you'll ever get."

Inakaya leaped away across the courtyard to where a stockpile of steel bars rested. Tomoki watched in resignation as she selected one of appropriate length then returned. The leopard-spirit, filled with renewed fury and confidence, sprang into the air, whirled her weapon in both hands and brought it down towards the genin who rolled away languidly and let the bar crash against the paving stones.

She leaped for him again, and the ninja evaded then jumped away. Inakaya glared at him and roared – a horrific sound that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

Fighting down the natural urge to overeact, Tomoki waited for her, gathered his chakra and sank into a stance. Inakaya snarled then sprang at him but when she landed her foot skidded out from under her. She cried out in surprise and fought to regain her balance. The ninja, waiting for this moment, raced forward; swirls of dust rising in his wake. His blade slashed – a single, powerful stroke that parted the woman's steel staff like a spider's web and continued quite unimpeded through flesh and bone.

Tomoki continued a step forward and flicked his sword sharply to clear the blood from the blade then looked back to where Inakaya lay, sprawled in a field of black, with one arm severed and a deep, fatal cut through her midsection. The boy quivered at the sight. Like Hsien before her, she hadn't seen the trap. Hsien hadn't seen the bars the genin had cut and cemented into the ground beneath the scaffolding where he might fall…Inakaya hadn't seen the pool of oil, and really, how could she when Tomoki had made sure to cover it with a thin coat of dust?

As he stood there, a chill came over him. _It has to be about more than just this,_ he vowed. _This is not my way._ He thought back to his training and imagined what Esmeralda-sensei would say. Certainly she'd clap his back and congratulate him for a job well-done.

"But it isn't done…," he clarified aloud, "not yet."

His thoughts were stilled suddenly by a sound that, though expected, sent a pang of dread pulsing though him – the Abbot's voice, lifted in song, that singular note that Tomoki had heard once before.

The leaf-ninja whirled, having known all along that it would come to this. There, still by the courtyard's gate with his followers congregated behind him, Abbot Lin knelt and sang with one hand pressed to the earth and the other raised toward heaven.

Tomoki gasped then glared. "Don't do it, Lin!" he shouted though that wasn't part of the plan. After all, he'd already given the creature more than fair warning. The genin's breath raced as he started to run towards the Abbot, pulled forth shuriken from the pockets of his vest and coiled them back. "Last warning!" he roared with all his might but the white-haired boy persisted. "Don't make me make kill you too!" He rushed as fast as he could for as long as he dared then leaped into the air and spun; his throwing stars flashed.

Lin stared straight forward, singing as the missiles arced toward him, seeming slow as they flew across the courtyard's distance. His concentration didn't ebb even for a moment as one shuriken hissed by his left temple, scratching skin and cutting strands of hair, or when the other passed on his right and took with it a piece of his ear.

Tomoki's racing footsteps slowed gradually then stopped and he hovered there, wobbling on his feet. _I...I couldn't do it_, he thought and the ninja's mind raced with the implications. The whole plan, all he'd worked for, depended on this one thing – that he would KILL Abbot Lin if forced to. He sat there, stunned for a moment by his own incompetence before a powerful force struck him hard, tearing through the muscles and bones of his back. The world vanished into a blur as Tomoki rolled limply, again and again, across the courtyard.

The boy lay there face down, gasping and gurgling for breath, for what seemed like an eternity before a foot dug itself under his ribs then kicked him over. His back felt hot and when his arm flopped over, it smacked and squished in a viscous pool of red. In the distance, he could make out a chorus of groans and shocked screams from the audience of tradesman and Shining Summit disciples.

Like something out of a nightmare, Hsien's horrible face emerged into the ninja's blurry vision as the man-beast looked down at him. "Look at this," he gloated then his eyes darted up. "Our little rodent can run no more."

"Yes, brother," Inakaya agreed.

"I get the first bite," Hsien insisted.

"No me!" argued the leopard-spirit.

A thoughtful look came over the boar-spirit's face. "Let's settle this the civilized way, the human way," he suggested.

Tomoki's eyes swam between the two as they each pumped a fist three times. On the last pump, Hsien extended one finger while his 'sister' put out two. "Lucky me," said Hsien as he crouched next to the fallen genin to feed.


	6. Fowls of the Air, Beasts of the Field

**Part 6 – The Fowls of the Air and the Beasts of the Field**

Cries of horror and disbelief washed through the crowd of workmen and disciples as they realized what the Abbot's brother and sister were about to do. The Abbot himself, still shaken by the ruin that had befallen his monastery, trembled and sweated in disgust at the sight until he cried out: "Wait!"

Hsien and Inakaya's heads swiveled toward him both leveling incredulous glances.

"By no means," answered the boar-spirit with a cruel chuckle, "will I delay my satisfaction any longer."

"Truly, brother," agreed Inakaya. "Look around you, Brother Lin! Look at your fallen pagodas and broken walls!" she growled and pointed angrily at Tomoki's quivering form then fired a savage kick into the boy's ribs before he could compose a jutsu. "Remember too what this rodent has done to your own poor brother and sister!"

"I haven't forgotten," Lin replied solemnly, shut his eyes then added, "have you? Have you forgotten what you were and what you aspired to be?"

His big-brother's eyes widened into saucers as he rose and took a step toward the Abbot. "Don't presume to tell me 'brother'," the giant declared snidely then puffed out his massive, barrel chest. "I know what I am and what I wish to be – nothing like you!" Hsien lowered his brow, at which many of the disciples retreated with instinctive fear, then brushed back his bristly hair. "This one was right about one thing," he explained and gestured at the gasping ninja, "you _are_ a fraud, as ridiculous as a man as a man would be pretending to be an animal!

"Look at you, looking back at me with such distaste. Look at your silly followers who stand there still uncomprehending! We both take from them what we want. You want their affection but Inakaya and I are much more honest…we want only their flesh!"

In an instant Hsien had un-slung his weapon and let it fly - over his smaller brother and into the crowd where it landed and locked on the head of a surprised disciple. "Brother, no!" screamed Lin, too late as the boar-spirit ripped his arm back on the guillotine's chain, bringing it and the poor disciple's severed head back to him. Chaos erupted then as most of the disciples and all of the tradesmen bolted in stark terror. Hsien laughed, discarded the head to clear his weapon then slung it again – this time at a porter who stood frozen, too frightened to flee. Again the terrible, bladed basket of the flying guillotine descended and caught the poor man's head but the Abbot lunged and caught its chain before Hsien could pull it away.

"Let go, brother," warned the boar-spirit.

Lin remained firm, with both pale, slender-fingered hands grasped tightly around the steel links. The Abbot stared at his 'big-brother' and blinked his eyes against the tears. "It's true then," the white-haired boy accused bitterly and struggled for the words. "The pair of you are…killers…worse than any animal because you kill for pleasure!" He gasped and shook his head. "And you've deceived me all this time when you professed that you'd forsaken your primitive origins and become noble; that you wished to walk the spiritual path.

"Has nothing I've ever said, nothing I've ever shown you, and nothing we've accomplished here together meant anything to you at all?"

The two animal-brothers exchanged looks: Lin's melted before a horrible epiphany, the scope of which was only now fully taking shape in his mind; Hsien's was hard with icy indifference. "Bird…you squawk too much," Hsien hissed then heaved upon the guillotine's chain.

In a blur of motion the chain wrested from the Abbot's tenuous grip and the dreadful apparatus spun, decapitating another of the crane-spirit's disciples. But before the headless body could fall limply to the ground, one of Lin's followers jumped behind the Abbot, offering her back to take the place of his as the weapon and its spinning blades sped toward him on its way back to the boar-spirit's hand. Both she and the Abbot fell to the ground in a whirl of her brown robes and his white, joined by angry sprays of red.

"Hsien!" yowled Inakaya. "What have you done?"

He looked back at her, took up the severed head from his guillotine like a trophy in his hand, and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, not you too?"

Unimpressed, the leopard-spirit drew up to him and pushed him hard. "We need him!" she shouted and waved her hand, "to keep the herds quiet!"

Hsien looked down at her reprovingly. "Nonsense, sister," he ventured. "All we need do is show that we are powerful and they will come along easily enough when they see they have no choice." He looked over to where Lin knelt over the body of the murdered woman; where some disciples still stood by awaiting his direction. "First the bandits and now us," the boar-spirit told her. "To be preyed upon is their nature."

"You have learned nothing," replied Inakaya who went on to explain: "The Dancing Stones had to work hard for their meals, laying hours or even days in wait, fighting armed guardsmen, prowling dangerous mountain trails – they were fools!" Her fingers gripped Hsien's vest and she looked at him confidingly. "Hasn't it been easier doing things our way, when we can take whatever we want from them and they don't even know it?"

"Hmm," the giant agreed after a moment's thought, "good point." He exhaled a tolerant breath as he looked again toward his grieved brother. "Very well, go and see to him," he said then looked back toward where Tomoki lay and grinned. "In the spirit of our enduring concord and cooperation, Inakaya, I'll leave you half."

"You're too kind," his sister gushed.

Even in his wounded haze, Tomoki could feel Hsien's heavy tread come toward him over the paving stones. Mustering energy, he threw himself over and managed to scrabble to his feet but the giant's huge hand seized his shoulder and pulled him around before he could get far. The open-handed cuff that followed almost broke the boy's neck and left him seeing nothing but speckles of light and dark.

"Pain and fear," observed Hsien as he looked curiously into Tomoki's face and laughed, "are natural to a rodent's short life." He looked upward abstractly and secured his prey with an imprisoning grip. "What did you think to accomplish here? You could never have defeated us; in truth, escape would have been as close as you could have come to victory but you chose not to accept it." The beast then looked down at him and took a deep, loathsome and predatory sniff. "In the end, you could have escaped your fate…but you could not escape what you are."

Tomoki's vision swam as Hsien opened his tusked, stained jaws wide then lowered them toward his throat. The boar-spirit's breath steamed on his skin; the raw stench of it, like a slaughterhouse, filled his nostrils and the ninja's resolve shattered.

_The squirrel cannot run long with the fox, _Ichi had tried to warn him and he hadn't wanted to believe it. Maybe this was all his own fault for trying to be more than he was.

The genin struggled futilely one last time in Hsien's monstrous grip and looked away but then suddenly the demon released him and he slumped to the ground.

Quickened by the shock of impact, Tomoki looked up as an orange blur flew through the air and smashed the boar-spirit's face. Hsien staggered back as he tried to regain his footing. Tomoki blinked his eyes rapidly and tried to focus them then gaped in surprise as did Hsien who now found himself confronted by another boy barely half his size, this one yellow-haired and blue-eyed.

* * *

"N-Naruto?" Tomoki sputtered then spun around toward the center of the courtyard where a humbled and humiliated Abbot Lin stood with one hand raised. Atop those slender fingers rested the enormity of the Great Bell as if it possessed no more than a feather's weight. Almost stunned with disbelief, Tomoki turned back as Naruto gave forth with a savage snarl that made even Hsien flinch.

Tomoki stared at Naruto, still unsure of his reality. The yellow-haired boy stood like a terrible vision, legs bent and fists balled, lips pulled back around bared teeth. Though pale and gaunt from his imprisonment, with his clothes dirty and blond hair matted, his eyes blazed with savage vitality and Tomoki could see the faint glow of his chakra as it crackled like blue electricity, flowing around him and raising patterns in the dust.

Naruto burst forward, right and left fists pounding with sledgehammer force into the boar-spirit's belly and ribs. As the giant started to double over, the genin leaped up suddenly and smashed the top of his head into Hsien's chin which cracked at the impact. Naruto then dropped low and rolled between the monster's legs, coming up at the last moment with his heel which whipped through Hsien's groin but still Naruto wasn't finished. Catching himself on his hands, the orange-clad genin coiled his body back and slammed both feet into the back of Hsien's knees which sent the boar-spirit sprawling to the ground.

Tomoki's jaw fell slack. _It…it's impossible!_ he thought._ How can he fight like that after four days trapped…no food…no water?_ Quickly, he put the thought aside, gathered himself and wove his fingers together for the Five Elements/Eight Harmonies Jutsu and healed himself, recovered his swords then staggered forward.

"Naruto?" he stammered uncertainly as he approached.

The boy turned on him with a fearful scowl on his face. Tomoki saw Naruto's hand arc toward him, its fingers curling together as it came. The oncoming punch connected solidly with the young ninja's jaw forcefully enough to send him spinning across the courtyard and then down to the ground.

Tomoki sat up dazedly and pressed his hand against the fresh bruise which hurt more from the shock than anything else. "Ow!" he cried out in hurt, betrayed surprise then screamed at Naruto who marched toward him: "What did you do THAT for!"

The blond looked down at him furiously. "I don't have to explain anything!" he shouted back as he jacked a thumb into his own chest.

Tomoki stared at him, mystified and panting for breath then pushed himself up. "I came out here, all this way, just to get you back!"

"Oh, yeah?" barked Naruto acrimoniously, "well, you shoulda saved yourself the trip!"

Red-faced and pulsing with rage, Tomoki marched up to Naruto until they were nearly nose-to-nose. "Yeah, I should have!" he spat, cursed then shouted into the blond boy's face, "I shoulda left your worthless carcass to rot under that stupid bell!"

Naruto shoved him back. "I guess you'll know better next time!"

Tomoki stared back as his hot anger gave way to cold. "Yeah," he declared bitterly. "I guess next time I will."

The two ninjas glared at each other and their hatred seemed to take on a life of its own. It coursed between them boring a tunnel through the ether, connecting the two to the expulsion of all else.

"Excuse me," a harsh voice interrupted and the leaf ninjas turned to see Hsien rise and limber up his throwing arm, with his sister, Inakaya at his side, "but if anyone's going to _kill _anybody around here…it's going to be us!"

Tomoki grimaced then said to Naruto coolly, "Let me guess…you'll take the big guy." Naruto drew a pair of kunai knives and charged the giant; Tomoki took that for his answer. The taller boy shrugged and shook his head then turned to confront Inakaya who strode before him, spun her spear around crisply then brought it to a stop. The genin watched the point vibrate and thought: _She must have a thousand of those things in a warehouse somewhere…_

"Hey, Inakaya," he said. "I could swear we've done this before."

Her lips narrowed and formed a wry smile. "Third time's the charm," she quipped surely. "Brother laid you out not more than a few minutes ago and even though you know some kind of healing jutsu I can tell that you're on your last legs while Hsien and I are all refreshed by brother Lin's spell. You won't last long this time, then I'll help kill that orange fox friend of yours and we'll both have a delicious feast!" A shiver passed through her body as her face lit with glee.

Tomoki frowned. "You've got a real one-track mind," he offered critically, "do you know that?"

"Unlike you humans," Inakaya observed with a wry wink, "we animal-spirits are _very_ easy to please."

The genin nodded obligingly, sparing a look toward where Hsien and Naruto were engaged in a pitched battle. The boar-spirit slashed and slung his guillotine in sweeping, body-slicing arcs while the diminutive ninja leaped and rolled, occasionally slipping through to stab at the monster's legs and vitals.

Tomoki's features twitched then fell into an expression of reluctant concern.

"So tell me, little rodent," asked Inakaya, "you've fought well so far but are you ready to die at last? Are you ready to meet your destiny!"

"I could use a bite to eat first," Tomoki confided, "how 'bout you?" The leopard-spirit gave him a sour look. "Oh, right…" he pretended to realize then knelt to collect his weapons and cradled them both in the crook of his arm. "Hold on a 'sec," the boy said then reached down to pick a wedgie from his ill-fitting pants. "Ok, now I'm ready."

The leopard-monster's lithe legs bent then she snarled as she sprang and battle was joined.

All around the Courtyard of the Great Bell the four battled while the fifth of their number returned to mourn the loss of his disciple. To one side, Naruto ducked and dodged away from Hsien's furious swipes, the lethal casts of his flying guillotine and the snarling, steel coils of its chain. On another, Tomoki darted and sidestepped Inakaya's furious stabs with her spear which came as fast as arrows. Having learned the hard way from two bloody defeats, the leopard-spirit remained aloof and sought instead to patiently whittle away at her foe.

On and on the two genin fought – Tomoki using the relaxed, flowing strategies and movements of ai, while Naruto depended on his explosive, unpredictable ferocity. Both were worn down and weary from their recent travails and were soon forced to retreat before their magically restored adversaries.

At length they came together, back to back. Both panted heavily for breath and bore cuts and tears in their clothing. Tomoki held back his surprise, hardly believing that anyone could contend with a true monster like Hsien after a four day fast within the lightless prison of the Great Bell. In that instant the glimmer of a strategy formed and he muttered a few words to Naruto who nodded curtly and barked out a quick, "right!"

Both ninjas spun as one, unleashing a barrage of shuriken and kunai-knives at Inakaya who, caught off-guard, leaped madly and whirled her spear to shield herself and deflect the oncoming missiles from the air. Naruto switched opponents to circle her and press his assault while Tomoki rushed at Hsien who hurled his flying guillotine in reply. The genin dodged aside, threw both swords at the giant then wove his fingers back and forth in a complex pattern. "Fire-Spirit Jutsu!" he cried as his blades clattered off Hsien's upraised forearms.

The hanging paper lanterns, whose light had faded before the dawn, now exploded through their fragile houses into brilliant blooms of white and blue flame then blazed like comets toward the boy's beckoning hands. Gathering the flames together, Tomoki compressed their destructive energies until he lunged forward and projected them in a single, blazing shaft toward the surprised boar-spirit.

"Brother!" shouted Inakaya in alarm as Tomoki's jutsu overwhelmed Hsien, exploding in a blinding blast of white. The genin covered his face and threw himself to the ground to ride out the explosion then rolled to his feet and tried to clear the spots from his vision.

"Tomoki!" he heard Naruto's gravelly tenor warn him, "watch out!"

The genin flinched away just in time to avoid the leopard-spirit's skewering stab. He reeled, flatfooted, as the incensed Inakaya came after him, wild with fury. The point of her spear slashed and darted at him like a vengeful, living thing. It cut toward his legs, and Tomoki was completely taken in by the feint as it changed directions in an instant and vectored instead up for his neck. A blur of orange, blue and yellow flashed before him as Naruto intervened, knocking the spear aside with his kunai.

"Naruto!" barked Tomoki.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he answered as Inakaya slashed at him again.

Tomoki spun away, making straight for his abandoned swords, while Inakaya stabbed furiously at Naruto then broke off to rush after her original prey. Begrudgingly, the blond genin allowed her.

Tomoki urged himself to greater speed as he sprinted, then sprang into an all-out leap as a shadow passed overhead and Inakaya landed before him right between his two weapons. But the young ninja had already set aside his plans to regain his swords and instead landed on his palms, pushed off and thrust both feet into the dumbfounded leopard-spirit's chest.

Inakaya yowled as she rode the force of Tomoki's double-kick and landed in a crouch, balancing herself on the butt-end of her spear, then tore after the genin who raced now toward the shadow of the courtyard's scaffold-covered wall, making hand-signs as he went. The shadow darkened and deepened as Tomoki passed into it, followed immediately behind by the fearsome leopard-monster.

Inakaya emerged from the darkness, disoriented momentarily by her sudden transport though space, and saw her prey facing her but yet somehow gliding away as if by magic. The woman puzzled for an instant before she realized that she'd been in this exact spot before. Her feet struck the ground then flew out from under her; she landed hard and flat on her back with an unceremonious splat of oil. The leopard-spirit looked up at Tomoki, who offered a salute as he hopped onto solid ground and backpedaled away, not even attempting to take advantage. Shadows then fell over the woman and Inakaya looked around in dismay at the multitude of Narutos that now surrounded her. They smiled or scowled intently. Some nodded in appreciation of the violence to follow while others spared a moment to smack their lengths of 2 x 4s, shovels, picks, bricks, or short lengths of steel reinforcing bars against their eager palms; after a brief, preparatory pause, they attacked en masse.

Tomoki couldn't help himself but grin at the spectacle while blow after blow rained down on Inakaya who wriggled and thrashed wildly like the animal she was. The ninja then felt a rush of air and suddenly his vision was obscured by a metal screen. Tomoki's momentary jubilation came to an immediate end as he felt the weight of the steel basket thud, heard the click of the gears and felt the blades poke into his neck. Sheer terror flashed through his mind like lightning across a dark sky, knowing at once that this could be nothing else but Hsien's flying guillotine. Desperately, the boy sought for the chain and wrapped it around his arm twice as he got a grip with his other hand to back up the firsts'.

His eyes flicked up and saw though the guillotine's mesh-like veil the distant boar-spirit's demonic visage. Hsien's body was blackened and burned. All his clothes and hair had singed away and in the center of his chest, a charred, gaping wound revealed white breastbone and ribs. The implacable monster's snarling face, reddened and blistered, widened into a gruesome smile as he laughed – his victory at hand, and he pulled back on his weapon's chain with all of this strength.

In a surreal haze, as time seemed to slow, Tomoki ran toward Hsien as fast as he could in three great, chakra-assisted strides then leaped just as the chain pulled violently tight. As he flew through the air his grip remained firm and kept a little, precious slack between his locked hands and the terrible apparatus clamped around his head. The force of Hsien's pull took him back to its source, Hsien himself, and Tomoki twisted in the air, cocked his knee high into his chest as he pivoted, then smashed back with his heel as hard as he could. The kick exploded through the boar-spirit's burned face, knocking him back and dropping him to the ground. The genin landed on his feet and stumbled, off-balanced by the weight on his head, then hurriedly reached up for the lever that sat atop the flying guillotine and pulled it in the opposite direction. The weapon's actuator clicked, the points of its shark-tooth blades retracted and Tomoki pushed it off just as Hsien regained his senses enough to pull again on the weapon's leash.

The beast cried out angrily at being denied then blared, "It's only a matter of time before your luck and your tricks run out, rodent!"

The genin staggered and clutched at his neck, having come within a moment of decapitation. Hsien glared at him then looked away, distracted at last by the brutal, brutal beating Inakaya was still receiving at the fists, feet and improvised weapons of Naruto and his multitude of shadow-clones.

The boar-spirit's eyes flickered from out of the broken and burned ruins of his face, and Tomoki could see how furiously he thought. _What will he do,_ wondered the young ninja, _attack me while I'm still weaponless or help his sister?_ Surely sentiment would not play a role in Hsien's decision but only cold practicality. Whatever internal arguments had passed though the boar-beast's mind, he reached his decision. Hsien leaped away from Tomoki and unleashed his flying guillotine toward Naruto and his duplicates.

"Naruto!" Tomoki shouted as the weapon hissed and spun into their midst. Shadow-clone Narutos leaped away from its path while others were slashed and vanished into puffs of dispersed chakra. Tomoki sped at Hsien and flew into a kick – a low, flying, heel-kick directed towards the side of the boar-spirit's knee but the giant turned at the last moment and Tomoki's heel cracked instead against the meat of the giant's thickly-muscled thigh.

Hsien barked in pain then glared down at Tomoki who, stuck in a bad position, tried desperately to work a scissor-style takedown. The man-beast lurched across with his other leg and booted the ninja in the stomach sending him rolling over the paving stones. Focused once more on Tomoki, Hsien took up his guillotine and readied it to hurl but then winced and arched as his back and legs were peppered with shuriken and kunai knives.

Hsien turned and his eyes widened in shock at the sight of a dozen Narutos charging. The giant backpedaled a step then another then fled, pursued by the small, orange army. One after the other, they ran an obstacle course over stacks and barrels, construction machinery and piles of rubble where the collapsed crane had tore its way through the Shining Summit Monastery's walls and towers. The desperate boar-spirit lead his hunters toward the perimeter wall, where he slashed at one of the remaining scaffolding's supports and collapsed it in an attempt to bring it down on top of them. Hsien scrambled away then cast his guillotine and leaped, up atop a ziggurat of boxes, then all the way to the top of the outer wall.

Tomoki, meanwhile, lay on the courtyard's pavement and gasped for breath as he tried to recover from Hsien's blow. At last he pushed himself to all-fours. Red-stained drool poured from the boy's mouth as he saw, high above upon the Courtyard of the Great Bell, Hsien and Naruto locked in battled. Tomoki stumbled as he made his way toward them then fell to his knees, overcome with dizziness.

Hsien fought with the fury of a cornered beast. His great, long arms lashed out at Naruto and his remaining clones. Sometimes his wild blows connected and the unfortunate clone disappeared but in the meantime the remaining ones swarmed over him like ants. Their knives sank into his already-breached skin; they grabbed his legs to trip him up and slow him down, and gripped doggedly around his bull-neck. Suddenly, the boar-spirit seized one by the neck and all the clones vanished. Tomoki's eyes widened at the sight as he fought again to rise.

Hsien bellowed a cry that echoed throughout the courtyard and the mountains beyond as he tightened his grip, seized Naruto by the leg too and hoisted him high over his head.

"Naruto!" Tomoki shouted as he remembered his own plunge down the mountainside at the boar-spirit's hands.

The blond genin wriggled and thrashed in his foe's grip, grabbed Hsien's thick wrist, jerked his neck free then bit deep into the giant's burned forefinger. The beast squealed with pain and drew his hand back but Naruto grabbed the finger tight with both hands and kicked his other leg free.

Tomoki watched anxiously, trying desperately to muster the energy for another jutsu, then froze with shock as Naruto fell from Hsien's grasp and both tumbled over the parapet and out of sight.

* * *

Tomoki stood there mute with horror as his hands came up and clutched around his head in dismay. _Oh, no! _the ninja thought numbly then swallowed hard as the wind blew through his tatters of his borrowed clothing. _Oh, Naruto…_ The boy forced his eyes shut as he tried to gather himself. _You don't know he's dead_, he reasoned at last. _You don't know that he went down the mountain…don't jump to conclusions…don't jump to conclusions…don't jump to conclusions_, Tomoki repeated to himself over and over like a mantra as he worried his lip. He slowly paced forward and looked for a good shadow he could use for his Shadow-Gate Jutsu which he would use to take him to the top of the wall.

One appeared before him and, as he looked up, he saw it was attached to the savagely-beaten but still standing form of Inakaya, the leopard-spirit. She looked at him tiredly then observed: "Looks like we're the only ones left."

"'Seems that way," Tomoki admitted. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, his pessimistic nature denied him that hope. "So…I guess you still want to fight?"

Inakaya nodded. "If we don't, then I'll always kinda wonder how it would've turned out."

Tomoki looked at her startled then his lips rose into a genuine, though sardonic, grin. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," said Inakaya who rolled her eyes at the quote, "and satisfaction brought her back. Listen, I think we've put each other through enough that we can spare ourselves the one-liners. What do you think?"

The genin shrugged agreeably then the two eyed each other and began to circle. Inakaya attacked first, leaping forward with an eviscerating kick toward Tomoki's midsection. The ninja sidestepped and swatted it aside with a sweep of his arm then coiled his hips and snapped the ridge of his hand at her neck. Sensing what was coming, the leopard-spirit dropped down and kicked back with both feet, but Tomoki read the attack and continued his motion all the way through, which took him around and he spun away just out of reach.

"Wait!" cried a booming voice and both looked up to see Hsien's form, posed victoriously atop the courtyard's wall – the boar-monster's black shape raised against the brightness of the fully risen sun.

"Brother! You're Alive!" greeted Inakaya with a fanged smile, "welcome back!"

Tomoki's face turned ashen. He tried to remain composed and formulate a strategy but this time he couldn't quite manage it. "SHIT!" he spat, cursing his own luck as well as Naruto's.

High into the air rose Hsien who then descended towards them, landing in a crouch. Blood poured from his wounded body which still glistened with fluid from his burns. "You're not going to finish him off without ME, leopard-lady?"

She gave him a curious glance but replied, "no, brother."

"Well…good," he growled then turned toward Tomoki and flexed the rippling muscles of his arms. The boy's expression twitched as he made himself ready to confront both animal spirits but then Hsien looked at him curiously and his eyes narrowed into slits as his mouth upturned into a wide, mischievous smile. "Where…," he crowed, "where did you get those _clothes!"_ the boar-monster asked suddenly then burst out with laugher. "I can't believe I didn't notice before. You look like such a tool!"

Tomoki's mouth fell open. "Shut up!" he remonstrated. "I'm sick of hearing it, plus you're one to talk, you're not wearing -." The ninja fell silent as the realization came over him. "So," he ventured cagily, "how do you want to handle this?"

Hsien smiled. "Just like Iruka-sensei?"

"Fine," Tomoki agreed then wove his fingers together.

Inakaya startled suddenly. "Watch out, brother!" she cried. "He's using a jutsu!"

Hsien turned around fully toward her. "So what?" he argued. "So am I."

The leopard-spirit gaped in shock then as her brother's uppercut slammed up under her chin just as Tomoki sprang up from the depths of her own shadow, spun, and his leg sweep thundered through the backs of her ankles. Just like Iruka-sensei, Inakaya jackknifed from the force. The savage woman's back and the back of her head struck the stone pavement with a harsh crack then she unfolded limply… completely unconscious.

Tomoki looked at 'Hsien' and couldn't help but think: _nice work…wish I'd have thought of that_.

The boar-spirit vanished in a blur of dispelled chakra, replaced by Naruto, who stood with a grim, self-satisfied grin on his face.

Tomoki stepped away a pace and retrieved a thick, plastic strap that had once secured a palette of bricks, and tied Inakaya's hands behind her back with it. He then dragged her up, hauled her to the center of the courtyard and rolled her un-gently beneath where the Great Bell hovered balloon-like. "Lin!" he called out.

The Abbot's tear-streaked face looked up from where he knelt and the white-haired boy slowly stood.

"You know what to do, right?" the genin asked.

The shaky crane-spirit, his robes streaked and spotted with red, turned away, unable to stand the sight, but raised his hand then brought it down sharply to his side. At his command the Great Bell lowered slowly and unstoppably, like the setting sun or the ebbing tide of the ocean, until it came to rest, immovable, over the fallen leopard-spirit.

The three remaining figures looked at the Great Bell for a moment then Naruto turned toward the Abbot. "Only one more thing to do," he snarled, sprinted and his fist caught the crane-spirit right on the jaw and sent him flying; the Abbot's white robes flowing like sails in the wind. Lin landed in a sprawled heap and looked up dazed and quivering as Naruto advanced toward him.

The sound of Tomoki's slapping footfalls rang in the courtyard's stillness as he came around Naruto and blocked his way, breathing hard. "Don't, Naruto," he asked, "please."

"Out of the way, Tomoki," the genin ordered as his blazing blue eyes stared holes through his classmate. "I mean it," he reaffirmed darkly, "you won't like what I'll have to do to you if you don't."

Tomoki searched his expression, either for humanity or the demonic spirit that resided within him, then abruptly stepped aside and ushered him through with an outstretched arm. "So…what?" he asked as Naruto marched by. "You're just going to _kill him?_ Are you going to kill him because you think it's the right thing to do or just 'cause you're mad? Is that a good enough reason?" he shouted and the sound of his desperate voice echoed through the courtyard.

Naruto stopped, quivering with anger, then turned back suddenly towards him. The shorter ninja glared at Tomoki, exhaling gusts of breath through flared nostrils and bared teeth before storming away.

The taller ninja wiped his forehead with relief then rubbed his hand over his face. The Abbot canted his head toward him. Slowly the white-haired crane-spirit's disconsolation vanished, replaced with rage as he looked past Tomoki towards Naruto's departing back then shot to his feet.

"Don't do it," Tomoki cautioned him quietly. "Just don't." Lin met his eyes and his fury melted away. He took a random step then collapsed to all fours. "Do you deserve to die?" the genin wondered aloud. "I don't know the answer to that…but I definitely think you had that punch in the mouth coming." Lin refused to look at him. "If it was me that you'd trapped under that bell, well…," Tomoki's voice trailed off. "I'd like to think I'd let you off that easy."

"How has it come to this?" Lin asked desolately as he surveyed his scarred, blood-smeared courtyard strewn with bodies and wreckage. "All I wanted was to be human, to make a difference. Where did I go so wrong?"

"I'm willing to bet," offered the genin, "right from the start."

The Abbot's brow furrowed for a moment then let his long-haired head fall. "What is this I feel…worse than any pain I've ever experienced before? It's hollow – a great sucking emptiness but still more real and solid than anything I've ever felt, like not even death could bring it to an end."

"Disappointment, betrayal…grief. You're human after all," Tomoki ventured stoically then added almost as an afterthought: "congratulations." The Abbot gave him a heartbreaking look which drew the boy's sad smile. "You didn't think it was easy, did you, being human?" The crane-spirit gasped, tried to compose himself and sat back on his heels. Tomoki followed his gaze toward the horizon then asked: "So, what will you do now?"

"Go back," Lin answered finally. "I'll go back to my marshlands…return to the life I left behind."

"Yes," the boy agreed half-heartedly and nodded. "You could do that."

Moments passed while the Abbot considered. "You don't think so?"

Tomoki shrugged. "It's up to you," he explained. "You're the one who has to decide and deal with the consequences of that decision, right?"

Lin nodded then asked, "What would you suggest?"

"Well," said the boy who made a thoughtful face, "running away IS a very human thing to do."

"Alas, but unsatisfying," the crane-spirit commented. "What else?"

"You could stay here," Tomoki began. "I'm sure you could make up some pretty-sounding lie about how evil ninjas attacked your monastery and turned your brother and sister against you. A good number of your followers would believe that without question. Lying is also pretty common among us."

Lin looked at him in shock. "I…I hadn't thought about it like that."

"It's ok; you're new to being human."

The Abbot frowned seriously. "No. I couldn't do it," he concluded. "My followers deserve more than that, they deserve better…and they deserve the truth. An Abbot who practices such deceit - that's not the man they chose to serve, that's not the man they died for…that's not the man she died for."

Tomoki looked over to the body of the woman who'd given her life for Abbot Lin, who'd thrown herself before the saw-like blades of Hsien's flying guillotine, and paled at finding that was none other than Anura Pakri – who'd guided him when he'd first arrived. "No," he said firmly as he turned away before grief could get a hold of him, "I guess it's not."

"Maybe I could stay," Lin extrapolated hopefully, "if they decided I could. If I confessed all to them and faced their justice."

"Would you really do that," Tomoki challenged, "even if they judged against you?"

Lin tilted his head. "I guess I'll have to trust them," he said then looked at Tomoki and managed a smile, "the way they trusted me."

* * *

After leaving Abbot Lin to whatever fate might eventually befall him, Tomoki lead the starving Naruto into Shijun and from there to the Luck and Happiness Teahouse. The pair entered through a gauntlet of widening eyes, cryptic looks and whispers – some encouraging but most not. With so many witnesses, word had spread of what had happened within the monastery's walls but the stories those actual events had evolved into, the genin could only guess.

The pair fell into blocky wooden chairs at a table with uneven legs near the middle of the teahouse's great room. A dapper-dressed waiter appeared almost instantly and asked for their order, eager to send the two on their way but unwilling for obvious reasons to upset them. Tomoki looked at the man's discomfited expression, searched through all his pockets then asked as he produced the only coin he had left, "What'll this get?"

The waiter gave a woeful look as he took it then walked away.

Tomoki and Naruto waited tensely, avoiding both eye-contact and conversation. Tomoki tapped his fingers on the tabletop while Naruto's knee bounced up and down impatiently, his stomach rumbling loud enough to shake the rafters.

After only a couple of minutes the waiter returned and set down a board of fare that disappointed both of them. Tomoki looked down at the cups of thin, black tea, the two small bowls of mutton broth speckled miserly with minced meat and vegetables, and a plate of mounded, white rice.

Half-starved, Tomoki's expression cried out his frustration. _Why did I have to give Wakana all of my money? I should've kept more_, he rebuked himself. _For that matter, why couldn't I be one of those really evil ninjas,_ he mused dourly_, and just take what I want?_ It was a cynical idea and he shook it away then quickly drained his tea and slurped down his bowl of soup which did little to sate his hunger.

Disgusted and tired, he'd looked away then settled back on Naruto who'd similarly finished his tea and soup and was starting in with his share of the rice. _What am I doing here?_ Tomoki wondered. _What, to save this guy…this dirty, ungrateful, crazed…_ His eyes studied Naruto critically, his smudged and strangely-marked cheeks, grimy hair, and sweaty clothes, the drips of spilt soup on his loud, orange clothing and grains of rice that stuck to his mouth. _And why, because he 'saved' me from Xiaomei's demon, Tsao-Tsao? He didn't do it for my sake, he just likes to fight!_

Tomoki picked up his chopsticks and took a pinch of his rice then another. _And I thought he was soooo noble. What a joke!_ His memories took him just then to all he'd been through, the countless injuries he'd suffered and vicissitudes he'd endured but then recalled the kindnesses he'd received too, Wen's and Wakana's, and how she'd cared for and fed him. _Meanwhile, that whole time, Naruto was under that bell. That whole time…_

Tomoki's hunger stayed but his appetite left and he could no longer eat another bite. He lifted his plate of rice and dropped in front of Naruto. It rattled as it hit the table and the genin's blue eyes flickered up for a moment in surprise then returned to his meal. "Thanks," he grumbled tersely.

Tomoki ignored him and cast his eyes longingly toward the doorway. This place had suddenly become oppressive to him. He couldn't stand to remain even a minute more. Thankfully, in the time it had taken to finish his thought, Naruto had wolfed down his rice and was also anxious to go.

Tomoki set a brisk pace as he walked up the mountain trail, grateful that each passing step put more distance between himself and the Shining Summit Monastery. Naruto followed behind him at a generously anti-social distance, looking out vaguely at the scenery with his hands in his pockets, and the two 'enjoyed' a silence that was not at all companionable.

"So," began Naruto glumly after awhile, "Hsien, Lin and Inakaya were just animals pretending to be people."

"Basically," replied Tomoki.

"Huh…'Abbot Lin'," Naruto muttered scornfully. "All that stuff he went on about…it was all just a ridiculous act."

Tomoki gave forth with a weary sigh. "Lin was wrong to treat you like that but don't hate him too much. He's trying to follow his dream the same way we're trying to follow ours," he illuminated. "His brother and sister knew the difference and chose to be animals but Lin just wanted to be human, a good human, the same way you want to be Hokage."

"Are you saying I'm the same as that…that _bird-brain?"_ Naruto fumed.

The sound of the blonde's voice grated in Tomoki's ears. "Forget it!" he demanded as he picked up his pace. "Just forget I said anything!" The ninja waited for Naruto's undoubtedly insulting reply and was surprised when it didn't come. Tomoki settled back into his stride and hoped that silence would reign for awhile yet so he could walk and regain some strength before having to use his Shadow-Gate Jutsu again. The trip that brought him here a few days ago had pretty much wiped him out. Now he'd have to transport two.

"Tomoki," ventured Naruto gruffly. "You're not mad just 'cause I punched you, are you?"

The genin's head drooped. "No, Naruto," Tomoki lied unconvincingly and knew he had but still hoped that Naruto hadn't noticed.

"Hit me back," the orange-clad ninja suggested but Tomoki just hissed a curse under his breath and kept walking. "Come on, I mean it!" Naruto insisted and ran around to stand in Tomoki's way.

The genin stopped and looked at him direly as Naruto closed his eyes and offered his chin, looking stupid the entire time. At length, Tomoki frowned, blew out a breath, put his hand to Naruto's awaiting head and pushed it and him aside. "Maybe next time," the taller genin said and walked on.

He hadn't gone far when Naruto's strident shout stopped him, "Hey!"

Tomoki turned and stared back. "What?" he yelled back. "What is your problem?"

Naruto stood there bristling; his brow dark with anger. "You're just like the rest!" he cried and pointed at him. "You think I'm a loser 'cause those animal guys grabbed me so easy! Well listen to me, I don't need _anyone_ to fight my fights FOR me and the last thing I need is YOU to come save me!"

Tomoki stared at him for a moment, blinked and marched up to him. "Is that what I think, Naruto?" he asked with icy resentment. "Then it must have slipped my mind that those 'animal guys' had strange powers, outnumbered you and probably took you by surprise. And if YOU'RE a loser because of that then what does that make me when those 'animal guys' nearly _killed_ me, not just once, but TWICE!" he vented hotly as he threw two fingers up before Naruto's face. The two exchanged baleful looks before Tomoki turned and stalked away, adding over his shoulder: "Oh, yeah, and, for the record, I _didn't_ save you - Abbot Lin did. I washed out!"

At last the trail rose up, turned and opened out. The carved Buddha awaited them there, just as forlorn and man-handled by time as Tomoki remembered it. The votives were all still there too but the boy felt sure that there were no new ones. Whatever his shortcomings that had been laid bare over the course of this little adventure: as a ninja, a person or a friend, at least Hsien and Inakaya's depredations had been brought to an end and that definitely counted for something…actually, it counted for a lot!

Realizing that, his disposition brightened. Though he hadn't (technically-speaking) saved Naruto or the children of Shijun, who could now enjoy their lives un-eaten, at the end of the day they DID get saved. Wasn't that what was really important, however it happened?

Tomoki grinned glumly, remembering storyteller Wen's borrowed tales of daring-do. _It would have been nice if that could've been me too, _the young ninja mused philosophically. _And as for Naruto, it's not like you didn't know that being friends with him wasn't gonna be easy…_

The pile of stones remained as well and the genin knelt and picked up a stone for him and one for Naruto then added them to it as their offering to the spirit of this place.

The late afternoon sun's slanting light lit the mountains in rivers of yellow, casting their back sides in shade. Tomoki drew a breath of the crisp air then paused introspectively as he and the Buddha exchanged a glance. On impulse, he walked over to the old carving and knelt before it.

_I've never trusted in any kind of higher power,_ he thought. _After Chi-ling was destroyed, I figured…never mind that now. Still, I have to admit that I've felt something…it brought me here, and saved my life at least a couple of times when I should have died._ The genin raised his head up. _Whatever my failings, I don't want to be ungrateful too…so thank you._ Slowly he rose to his feet and turned toward the shadows…the very same spot he'd entered through what seemed to him like a long, long while ago.

"What was that all about?" Naruto grumbled curiously.

Tomoki shook his head inscrutably and didn't answer. "Ready to go?"

"More than ready," the blond asserted. "Hey! You could've gotten us home though any shadow, right?"

The genin's features tightened; he couldn't deny it.

"Well then why did bring me all the way back here, huh?"

Tomoki brushed the observation aside. "It made more sense to me to go out the same way I came in," he dissembled. "Besides," the genin added and gestured at the breathtaking mountain vistas that stretched around them, "just look at the view." Naruto frowned, gave him a reproving look and opened his mouth to speak but Tomoki cut him off before he could make more out of it. "Ninja art: Shadow-Gate Jutsu," the boy announced as he gathered his chakra and crisscrossed his fingers into a seal.

The shadow's grey veil turned to jet black and the genin said to Naruto: "go ahead, I'll follow you."

Naruto paced up to the darkness' shore then looked at Tomoki uncertainly. "It's just like before, right?"

"Yep," said the ninja. "Just like in the woods, only this time we're going farther…a lot farther." Naruto moved toward the darkness again and braced himself tentatively. "Come on already," urged Tomoki as he drew up behind the shorter ninja. "Just walk. There's nothing to be scared of. I do it all the time." He looked at Naruto's pained look of concern then rested his hand in the center of the blonde's back. "On the count of three," he intoned then _immediately_ shoved his classmate through.

Tomoki paused a moment to roll his eyes then followed. In the dark, narrow alley in the Village Hidden in the Leaves where he appeared, Naruto awaited him – eyes narrowed to slits and a simmering, disgruntled frown on his face. That sour, petulant yet deeply earnest expression struck Tomoki at once as absolutely the funniest and most hilarious thing he'd ever seen and he snorted then started to laugh. The more he laughed, the deeper Naruto's irritation became until the yellow-haired boy was nearly seething.

Suddenly, Tomoki's laughter trailed away as his vision went blurry. His arms and legs lost feeling and seemed as if they were miles away. "Uh-oh," he had just time enough to blurt before that Konoha pavement came up to welcome him home.

* * *

The needle's point moved slowly over Tomoki's skin then hovered for a moment before Ichi's professional fingers tapped and twisted it into position.

"Come ON, tell me!" urged Naruto from where he looked on impatiently, sitting backwards in a chair with his elbows resting on its back, "is he -?" A hard glance from the old man silenced him, having been twice chastised already.

Ichi turned back to his young patient, settled on a spot along the unconscious boy's clavicle and tapped a needle in with a flat stick. "…Going to be all right?" he finished the blond ninja's question. "Yes, I think so." The doctor's non-committal tone brought little comfort. The old man straightened then stretched his back and looked over Tomoki who lay motionless and bare to the waist on his treatment table. Long needles protruded from his shoulders, along his upper chest, at the elbows, forearms, hands and periodically down his midsection.

Naruto's expression narrowed with frustration. "So what's _wrong_ with him, anyway?"

"Nothing's 'wrong' with him," Ichi corrected. "He's used too much chakra, so this is what happens. It's a perfectly natural reaction."

Naruto grunted with disbelief. "I don't see how. I mean, Tomoki really freaked me out when he just - just fell over like that!"

"You traveled a long way through his Shadow-Gate Jutsu, clear across the continent it sounds like. Think about it – the kind of energy that takes."

Naruto leaned back slightly in acceptance, if not approval, of what Ichi had told him. He looked up at the man dubiously. "This is going to make him better, right?"

"It always has before," Ichi explained tiredly then offered, "acupuncture is proven effective, you know. It goes back thousands of years."

"Hmph," the blond genin replied then his blue eyes widened as he remembered something. "Hey, uh, Itchy…I hope you'll tell that old lady I'm sorry."

"Ichi," the man corrected him and blew out a tolerant sigh. "And don't worry about Madam Wu; I think she's become accustomed to getting burst in on." He gave his work one last critical look-over then rose and shuffled his way to a small table where a small sandglass stood then overturned it. "You did right, bringing him here," he allowed then settled into a chair to wait.

Awkward silence passed as the sand dribbled through the timepiece's narrow throat. "I should thank you too," said Ichi, "for helping Tomoki against Xiaomei. I did not expect him to survive."

Naruto glanced at him. "Why'd you let him go?" he asked pointedly with cool disapproval. "Why did you help him? It seems like a pretty stupid thing to do if you thought he was going to die."

Ichi gave him a cross look then shrugged. "It's not as if I could have stopped him," the old man answered. "And he would have gone after her anyway with or without my help so I figured he'd be better off with it. I don't know if you've found this out for yourself yet or not but Tomoki can be a bit hard to distract once he has his heart settled, unfortunately…_which_ reminds me -."

Gesturing for the boy to wait a moment, the doctor rose then went to Tomoki's vest which hung on a peg nearby and retrieved a blue hitai-ate from one of its pockets. "There you are. I believe this one's yours," said Ichi as he presented it to the genin whose face lit with joy and relief.

"My headband!" Naruto gushed, grasped it dearly then quickly tied it on.

Ichi couldn't help but smile. "Tomoki told me that something had to be wrong; that you'd never just leave that behind. I guess he was right after all."

The genin's eyes widened for a moment then sank plaintively, mired in guilt, while Ichi excused himself. When he returned, he carried with him a steaming teapot and a plate of biscuits. "Please, help yourself," the old man offered his guest as he poured him a cup. "It looks like you could use something more substantial but this is all I have on hand."

Naruto looked up at him gratefully as he took and ate the biscuits by the handful, gulped down his tea then abruptly made a face. "What's this stuff?" the boy asked. "It tastes like perfume smells."

"Chrysanthemum tea," answered Ichi with a reflective smile. "It's my favorite. I suppose it takes an acquired taste."

"It's ok," conceded the boy. "Thanks."

"Not at all," Ichi replied. "To serve a guest is only proper."

Naruto's eyes fell again on Tomoki's lifeless form. "Propriety," he muttered out of the blue.

"Sorry?"

The genin turned toward him. "It's a martial virtue."

The sage looked at him curiously. "Ah, Wu-De: the five martial virtues," he acknowledged. "You're quite right." Ichi looked over as the last grains of the sandglass trickled down. He stood then went to Tomoki's side and began to remove the acupuncture needles one-by-one then returned them to a tray.

"What now?" muttered Naruto anxiously when he had finished.

"What now is," said the old man who found his coat and put it on, "that I'm going home…to my wife and my two visiting grandchildren who always behave and thankfully leave all this ninja nonsense to the much more mentally-unbalanced little boys and girls." He gave Naruto a smug smile but the boy startled with alarm.

"What!" the blond protested, shot to his feet and waved his arm sharply toward the prostrate patient. "You're just going to LEAVE Tomoki like that! What kind of doctor are you?"

"An experienced one!" Ichi protested then his voice softened. "All he needs now is rest, Naruto, and he's more than capable of doing that on his own."

"Fine, go home," said Naruto with a frown. "I'm staying."

Ichi shook his head and grunted. "Naruto, that's…," he stopped himself, gave the boy an appraising look then continued, "unnecessary. Listen, this is far from the first time Tomoki's spent a night on that treatment table. Since the time he started at the Academy I can't even count the number of times he's come here with his hands bleeding from too much swordplay, or requiring sutures, stitches, a liniment or an _antidote._

"And look at you!" he added and waved his hands over Naruto's disheveled form. "You're clearly in need of some good rest yourself, not to mention a meal, a laundry and _definitely_ a bath." The old man raised his palms against Naruto's blistering look. "I'm just pointing it out. Go home, Naruto, he'll be fine. I give you my word."

Without a word further, Naruto scowled, paced back to his chair, wheeled it closer to where the unconscious Tomoki rested and sat down with arms crossed – the definition of immovability as he began his vigil.

Ichi scratched his cheek; his posture acknowledging bewilderment as well as defeat. "It seems like you're a tough one to distract once you have your heart settled too," muttered the doctor as if to himself. "Well, I don't have any jutsu, sexy or otherwise, to ply you with so I imagine I'll see you in the morning," he said then waved his farewell and turned to go out the beaded curtain that lead to the main room of his shop. "Oh, and Naruto," Ichi added as an afterthought, "it really is nice to have you back."

**-The End-**


End file.
